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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25160419">Jimton Part 1</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Amelia_m93/pseuds/Amelia_m93'>Amelia_m93</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Jimton, Original Work</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Barbegazi, Be not intimidated dear reader, But I'm really stupid, Centaur, Characters of color, Dullahan - Freeform, Emotional Baggage, Everyone Is Gay, F/F, F/M, Found Family, Friends to Lovers, Friendship, Harpy, Human, Human/Monster Romance, It used to be Chapter 10, Jorogomu, Kejoro - Freeform, Kuchisake-onna, LGBT, LGBTQ, LGBTQ Themes, La Cegua, Lotsa gay monsters here, M/M, MANY characters of Color, Manananggal, Memory Loss, Minotaur - Freeform, Monstergirls, Naga, No Beta, Oni, Rokurokubi - Freeform, Sapphic, Sapphomet, Send DM if you wanna advise on grammatical errors, Slow Burn, Sphynx, Succubus, Tengu, The gay REALLY hits in Chapter 9, Tikbalang - Freeform, Useless Lesbians, Werewolf</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-07-09</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 04:41:05</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>9</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>37,359</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25160419</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Amelia_m93/pseuds/Amelia_m93</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>After a devastating accident, Morgan Orozco was without her memories, without a family, and without hope. When she finally finds an apartment with a spare bedroom that will allow her refuge, Morgan finds herself thrust into a world she had no knowledge of previously. Her humanity challenged and her safety uncertain, can Morgan find the strength to live again?</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>9</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>JimtonAbove</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Here’s the place,” The landlord said monotonously as she lifted herself from her golf cart. “Do you have any other questions, or…?”</p><p>Morgan Orozco turned away from the expansive apartment building that stood tall before here to look at the woman speaking to her. The landlord, who had given her name as Shelley Sheila, a fact that Morgan found hilarious, was an older, chubby white-haired woman with narrow eyes that were surrounded with the deepest, darkest circles Morgan had ever seen on another human being. Either the woman never slept or utilized makeup less as an art form and more as a permanent solution for stress lines.</p><p>“No thank you,” Morgan smiled and turned back to the complex. “I can make the rest of the way myself,”</p><p>Shelley sighed, though whether it came from a sense of relief or exhaustion, Morgan didn’t know.</p><p>“Well, if there are any disagreements regarding your roommates or maintenance issues, please, do not hesitate to call.”</p><p>With that, Shelley puttered off, taking her tired nature and breathy voice with her. As the apartment manager drove away, Morgan headed inside the building she’d be spending the foreseeable future living in.</p><p>Despite the outward appearance, the internals of the apartment were fairly modern and relatively ornate, especially compared to Morgan’s last place of residence, which had been a park bench; the home before that was a hospital bed. In a situation where she could either take a bench or an apartment building with peeling wallpaper, Morgan would take the peeling wallpaper, regardless of the decorations on it. Decorations that seemed to ebb and flow within themselves, crossing and intersecting over and over, like a mobius strip made of tiny pink and white flowers.</p><p>Whoa. Morgan shook her head and continued onwards and upwards. It wasn’t rare for her to catch herself staring at things, especially things that had particularly bright and vibrant colors and patterns, but it was neither the time nor the place to do so.</p><p>Fortunately, the path to what would soon be “her” apartment was mostly straightforward, so Morgan had no trouble finding it. However, Morgan did have trouble mustering up the bravery to actually knock on the door. On the other side of this innocuous, piece of carved wood was the rest of her life, a life far and away from the one she had before the accident.</p><p>“Turn and face the strange,” Morgan whispered to herself before lifting her hand and knocking on the door of Apartment 302.</p><p>“Hey, Diya” a voice on the other side of the door responded to the knock. “Could you get the door, I still haven’t found my...Diya? DIYA?”</p><p>After some intense shuffling and a slammed door, someone, presumably the person who had yelled, stomped to the door. Morgan shifted from foot to foot uncomfortably until the door opened.</p><p>If there was one thing Morgan hated above most things, if not all, it was being called crazy. Even though her memory wasn’t the best, and that was an understatement, she could remember describing hearing voices to her classroom in a show-and-tell presentation and becoming enraged when her peers said she was crazy, enraged to the point her foster mother had to be called to calm her. The voices never truly left, though they temporarily got worse after the accident, and along with soft whisperings that belonged to voices she didn’t recognize, strange images would occasionally appear out of the corner of Morgan’s eyes, a detail Morgan neglected to tell the doctors caring for her. Regardless to these two aspects of her mental health, Morgan was not, under any circumstances, crazy. 100% sane.</p><p>Well, maybe 95% sane, if the headless figure standing in the open doorway had any opinion on the matter.</p><p>The silence that passed between Morgan and the headless person was palpable, to say the least. If Morgan could have screamed she might have, but the only action she was able to take was staring at the apparently decapitated body that was standing before her. Though gathering visual information on a person seemed to be much harder to do without their head, to say the least, Morgan could extrapolate some details with what she had.</p><p>The person in the doorway might be a woman or at least was feminine in figure. Their skin was brown, though about a shade lighter than Morgan herself, and they clearly spent some time in the sun, as their arms and legs, revealed by a pink tank top and shorts, were darker than her shoulders and thighs. Even without the extra few inches a head would give, it was clear that the person was a bit shorter than Morgan’s own height of five feet, eight inches, a thought that felt strange to Morgan. She never felt all that tall, but standing next to someone even a bit smaller than her made her feel gigantic. Morgan had spent months upon months in the hospital, strapped to a bed for days eye level with doctor’s, nurses, and lawyer’s crotches, with nothing in the way of relief or comfort aside from-</p><p>“Um, may I help you?” The voice that emanated from the headless person was soft and ethereal, as though it was coming from every direction at once, not just in front of Morgan. It managed to jolt Morgan from her addled state and she attempted to answer.</p><p>“Hi! Oh, uh, my n-name...is…” Morgan trailed off, her mind returning to the rattled condition it had just been in. Fortunately, the headless woman broke the silence herself.</p><p>“You don’t happen to be Morgan Orozco, do you?” she asked gingerly, pronouncing Morgan’s last name with a proper application of an accent.</p><p>“Y-yeah! Yes, I’m Morgan!” Morgan shifted from one leg to another, her legs beginning to sting with a sharp pain. “I”m supposed to be moving in today, I think…?”</p><p>“Well of course you’re supposed to be moving in today!” The headless woman laughed softly and opened the door fully and moved to the side, gesturing for Morgan to come inside. “Why else would you be here, right?”</p><p>As Morgan walked into the apartment, her backpack and suitcase in tow, the headless woman casually patted Morgan on the back.</p><p>“The name’s Martinez,” Martinez curtsied half-heartedly “I’ve been waiting for you, but I wasn’t expectin’ you for a few more hours, so you’re in luck. You get breakfast right off the griddle.”</p><p>The mentioning of food sent Morgan’s stomach into a tizzy, embarrassingly grumbling as Morgan followed her new roommate through her new home. The only things Morgan had been able to eat the last few weeks were hospital food, McDonald’s, and a sandwich she bought and immediately dropped outside of a movie theater, so a home-cooked meal sounded like heaven. With no hesitation, Morgan followed Martinez into the darkened apartment.</p><p>Darkened was a bit of an understatement, actually. The apartment was almost completely black, to the point that Morgan could just barely see the outlines of objects in front of her, including Martinez herself.</p><p>As a matter of fact, how did Martinez see? She clearly held the capacity, as she recognized that Morgan was standing on the other side of the door, though if there was a knock at one’s door, wouldn’t one assume there was someone there? Martinez hadn’t even attempted to reach for a light switch on the way in, so she obviously didn’t need the light. Morgan remembered reading an article where a blind man had learned to ride a bicycle unassisted, but Martinez didn’t have a tongue to click, presumably, so would that even work? On top of that, Martinez trilled the ‘r’ in Orozco, which was confusing enough in its own right because-</p><p>There was a thump and a cry and Morgan was on the floor, clutching her right leg.</p><p>“Morgan! Oh my goodness, are you okay?” Martinez crouched down next to the fallen woman, who was starting to groan from the pain.</p><p>“What did I bump into?” Morgan managed to squeeze out in between heavy breaths.</p><p>“Uh, a coffee table...Are you not able to…” Martinez trailed off.</p><p>“Well, I mean, it’s a little dark.”</p><p>“Honey…” Martinez stood and walked to a light switch on a close wall. Despite the relative amount of pain she was in, Morgan had to chuckle at how evident Martinez’s concern for her was, even without a face to convey her worry. She was pretty expressive in terms of her body language, which made Morgan wonder if it was a learned trait or if she was born with it.</p><p>“Is there anything I can do to help you, Morgan?” Martinez asked as she took her place next to Morgan again.</p><p>“Oh, I’ll be OK, don’t worry,” Morgan attempted a smile at Martinez, though it probably came across more as a grimace. “I just need to...need to wait for the pain to pass.”</p><p>“Can I get you some Tylenol or something?”</p><p>“No, no. I have some medication in my bag, but I have to take it with food,”</p><p>Martinez laughed despite the situation “Well, don’t you worry about that. You bring the pills and I’ll bring the food,”</p><p>Morgan chuckled again and closed her eyes, trying to focus on anything that wasn’t the sharp throbbing in her leg and hip. When the pulsating started to subside, Morgan reached her hand out.</p><p>“Can I get a hand, please?”</p><p>Martinez obliged, taking her hand and placing the other on Morgan’s shoulder and helping her back to a standing position, with no effort. Her grip was tight and her hands were calloused, more so than Morgan would have assumed.  Morgan’s leg was still a bit sore, but she could put her weight on it, so she was able to follow Martinez, who was thankfully turning on lights as they passed them. It was only a few more moments until they reached the dining room, and Morgan’s life was, without exaggeration, changed forever.</p><p>Morgan balked as she looked at the breakfast spread that was laid out on the dining room table. Practically every variety of breakfast food possible was on display. From scrambled eggs to sausages to pancakes to biscuits and gravy, the selection was enormous, sprawling, and almost intimidating.</p><p>“Help yourself,’” Martinez grabbed a plate and handed it to Morgan “Take what you want, eat it, get more. I’m sure you know the drill.”</p><p>“Uh, are you sure? I don’t wanna eat before our roommates get some.’</p><p>“Pfft, they’re not gonna be up til the sun’s up. Plus, you’re gonna want to get your fill before they do. There’s a reason I always make so much.”</p><p>“Oh...alright. If you insist.....”</p><p>Morgan had every intention to pace herself when it came to breakfast, but her stomach had better ideas, the primary being “C O N S U M E C O N S U M E C O N S U M E.”</p><p>So Morgan did.</p><p>Halfway through her second plate, Morgan’s mind turned from eating to thanking the lovely woman who spent hours cooking the meal for them and she looked up from her food to say as much. However, the sight of Martinez absentmindedly scooping up eggs and depositing them into the open hole that was at the top of her neck gave her pause and she resumed eating. This hallucination, and what else could explain a walking, talking headless woman but a vivid hallucination, was taking too long to be done with, but whatever. The food made up for the bizarre sights.</p><p>Plates were put in the sink and coffee was poured and served. Morgan sipped slowly on the warm drink, ruminating on the upset stomach she was probably cultivating.</p><p>“This coffee is great,” Morgan attempted small talk, “Is it some kind of special brew, or..?”</p><p>“Oh, it’s just something I picked up from IFC down the road. It’s called Taste of Angels or something of that nature. Pretty ‘heavenly’, huh?”</p><p>Morgan wasn’t much for puns, but she laughed and took another drink. “Are you not going to have any yourself?” She asked after finishing her cup.</p><p>“Well, I would, but I’ve seemed to misplaced my-”</p><p>“I smell breakfast,” Another voice, rough and throaty, cut through Morgan and Martinez’s conversation. Morgan turned to the source and was met with the sight of the tallest, thinnest woman she had ever seen. Though her height was the most noticeable thing about her, literally everything about the tall woman was distinctly inhuman. Her skin was an odd shade of greyish brown, her fingers tapered into darkened, sharp claws, and, when she moved her head to the side, her hair glimmered with a redness, even though it seemed black when it was still.</p><p>Oh, and she was completely nude, though considering everything else, that was</p><p>the least prominent thing about her.</p><p>“Uh, Diya, why are you naked?” Martinez asked, a tiny bit of urgency in her voice as she looked from Diya to Morgan, who was doing her best to look anywhere but at the large woman.</p><p>“I thought you said it was OK as long as we didn’t have company over.” The tall woman, apparently named Diya, reached towards the table and speared a sausage on her finger, bringing it to her mouth and chewing after she responded.</p><p>“We <em>do</em> have company over,” Martinez gestured to Morgan, whose face was burning red hot. “Our new roommate just got here this morning, and I’m not sure she’s cool with your...casual nudity thing the same way Eva and I are.”</p><p>Diya turned and looked down at Morgan with stunningly yellow eyes, surrounded by black. Upon seeing Morgan, she smiled large and wide.</p><p>When Morgan was much younger, long before the accident that led her to Jimton, she watched a documentary about sharks. ‘As long and sharp as a kitchen knife’ is how the narrator described the teeth of a Great White Shark, which seemed incorrect to the young Morgan, as she would have described their teeth closer to a saw blade then a knife. It was after coming to that conclusion that she decided that the documentary was probably 100% wrong if they couldn’t get that one detail right, so she never thought of it again.</p><p>Sitting at a kitchen table in a two-bedroom apartment, looking up to an extremely tall, thin woman who was smiling at her with teeth that looked as though they were designed to tear and rend flesh, the term ‘long and sharp’ resounded through Morgan’s head over and over until it drowned out whatever Diya was trying to say to her.</p><p>Diya reached out a hand to Morgan, apparently a gesture of camaraderie, the smile not leaving her face, though Morgan really, really wished it would.</p><p>There was some muffled mumbling and Diya was suddenly gone and Martinez was by her side, her hand gently touching Morgan’s arm.</p><p>“Morgan...Morgan? Can you hear me?” Martinez’s voice was quiet and seemed to be getting quieter and quieter the more she spoke. “Are you alright?”</p><p>Before she could respond, the swirling torrent that had become Morgan’s mind stopped and dipped, falling down down down into a empty darkness that consumed her.</p><p>Morgan awoke with a sudden jolt of energy, her eyes darting back and forth in a panic. Her surroundings had changed, though not significantly, as her unconscious body had apparently been moved from the kitchen table to the living room, where she had been laid on a comfortable love seat. Just to the right of her, sitting on the living room sofa, was a woman with dyed blond hair and light brown skin, wearing a similar outfit to the one Martinez had on earlier.</p><p>Upon further reflection, it seemed like it was Martinez, except she had a head now. Morgan softly breathed a sigh of relief at the sight. It was good to know that her hallucinations were finally over, or, at least, they had gone away for the moment.</p><p>Martinez was reading a book, the title of which Morgan couldn’t see, and, when she saw Morgan was waking up, she closed the book and smiled.</p><p>“Welcome back to the Land of the Living, Morgan!” Martinez with a head seemed like a completely different person compared to the one Morgan had met earlier, though whether that was just Morgan’s perspective or a fact was unknown. “How’re you feeling?”</p><p>“Ugh, Like sh-,uh, not well” Morgan shifted in her seat, trying to find a more comfortable position than the one she had ‘slept’ in. “How long was I asleep?”</p><p>“Mmm, no more than an hour,” Martinez answered absently, looking a bit away from Morgan before looking back,. “I’m glad you’re doing well, but I’d like to ask you a question or two.”</p><p>“Oh yeah?” Morgan could feel a bit of fear settle itself in her chest, but she pushed it down, for the moment.</p><p>“Yes…well, I don’t wanna get too...invasive, especially since it’s your first day here, but are you okay? Is there some sort of care we need to provide that we weren’t told about? I mean, Diya being naked was probably startling, and I’m really sorry you had to see that, but I’d never expect for someone to faint at the sight of her,”</p><p>“Oh! Uh, I didn’t really faint because of her being naked, really”</p><p>“I mean, I assumed. What was it then?</p><p>“Umm, do you remember what I wrote about in one of our emails? About my...accident?”</p><p>Martinez nodded wordlessly.</p><p>“Sometimes, and I wanna say that it’s only happened once or twice before, I promise, but sometimes, when I get overly stressed, I uh, I faint. Like I said, it doesn’t happen often, but...it happens,”</p><p>“Hmm,” Martinez leaned her chin on her hand “So you were stressed earlier. May I ask why?”</p><p>“It was nothing, really. Along with the fainting and memory things, I can get….intense hallucinations? Mostly I hear my name being called, but sometimes I see things, and I think that’s what happened to me earlier. Appearances can seem changed and when I saw Diya, uh, she looked...I think monstrous would be the word? She had these giant looking claws and sharp-ass teeth and crazy looking eyes and...it freaked me out.”</p><p>It sounded stupid to describe out loud, but the silence that followed Morgan’s answer worried her to some degree. Martinez’s eyebrows were furrowed low a look of questioning as she looked at the woman in front of her. Before too long, she spoke again.</p><p>“Monstrous, you say?”</p><p>“Yeah, I guess that’d be the word to use. Monstrous.”</p><p>Martinez began to laugh, softly at first, then transitioning into a louder, heavier laugh until Morgan was 100% sure her hostess had lost her mind. When the laughter stopped, Martinez’s inquisitive look had been replaced with stone-cold seriousness, a look that threw Morgan off, to say the least.</p><p>“Oh, if only you knew how right you were…” Martinez pursed her lips, meaning to speak, then went silent. After a few moments of awkward silence, she spoke again.</p><p>“Morgan, this question is going to seem very...odd, but it needs to be asked, and I need complete honesty from you. Is this acceptable?”</p><p>“Sure, I’m an open book. Not, uh, not much written on it, but...yeah, what’s up?”</p><p>A long, drawn in-breath and Martinez asked, “Morgan...are you a human?”</p><p>The question was not one Morgan expected to be asked that day, or really any day to be honest. Time seemed to slow as she mulled the question over in her head, examining it from every direction she could think of. Was it a trick question? A layered one? Rhetorical? Terrifyingly, Martinez asked in a manner that made it seem literal, so Morgan decided to respond with a literal answer.</p><p>“Yes, of course, I’m human.” Morgan responded. “I mean, what else could I be?”</p><p>Martinez placed her hand to her chin, apparently, again deep in thought, before she asked her next question.</p><p>“So...a human…What sort of business do you have here, in Jimton?”</p><p>“B-business?  I don’t have ‘business’ here aside from needing a place to live and you guys were the first to say ‘yes’”</p><p>Martinez laughed again, bitter and sarcastic.</p><p>“Listen Morgan. I haven’t been around for a very long time, not as long as some of the rest of us. But I know one thing, and that’s that humans love playing nice and getting you to feel all kinds of comfortable with them until-” Martinez smacked her hands together, the noise-making Morgan jump, “They show their true colors. And I’m not about to put myself or my friends or this community in danger for another bullshitter, OK? It’s not the kind of Monster I am.”</p><p>Morgan’s head snapped up, a look of confusion crossing her face. “The kind of what you are?”</p><p>“I’m saying our home’s been put through a lot of stress over the last few years, and I’m not going to let them get hurt again.”</p><p>“That’s not what you said” Morgan could feel her heart’s rhythm speed up. “You said ‘That’s not the kind of Monster I am,’. What, what do you mean by Monster?”</p><p>Martinez scoffed “Morgan, please. I’ll ask you not to insult my intelligence. You know what I mean by Monster.”</p><p>Morgan’s breath began to become quicker and more ragged, practically synchronizing with her heart’s rhythm. The stress that had left with Diya was returning via Martinez’s wild actions and speech. “I...I really don’t, Martinez. I mean, like, a Monster? Like you’re a thief or-or-or-or a murderer or something?”</p><p>“...You know what I mean by Monster” Martinez grabbed the side of her head by her hair. “Fine. You wanna see more Monsters, hmm? Diya wasn’t enough for you? Here.”</p><p>In one, swift, practiced movement, Martinez pulled off her own head. A small plume of smoke escaped from the hole created by the removal as the small living room was briefly filled with the smell of a newly lit cigarette.</p><p>Standing there, staring at a woman who had pulled her head off with the same effort that one may take with taking the cap off of a ketchup bottle, Morgan’s own head was filled with an all too familiar haze. Martinez was speaking now, still at a loud volume, but it sounded as if she were standing on the other side of a wall. Her breathing fast and heart rate loud enough to possibly hear outside of her chest, Morgan was forced her back into her seat. This movement, along with Morgan’s eyes rolling into the back of her head, seemed to quell the fury that had grown in Martinez, though she had little time to enjoy the newfound peace as she fell into a blur.</p><p>As quickly as her anger had arrived, it was gone, and Martinez was left only with shame and concern as the woman whom she had begun to think of as a roommate, then an intruder, sat in her seat, her eyes glazed over and her mouth held agape. Looking at Morgan over, Martinez felt the need to slap herself over her actions just seconds prior.</p><p>Morgan Orozco, as she had introduced herself, was a human, this much was true. It was foolish of Martinez to assume she would be a monster, but what sort of human moved to Jimton? Not many, and those that had…well, those memories were better left where they belonged. Morgan didn’t seem much like she was there to gawk or to manipulate. She just seemed…tentatively excited to have a place to live and now terrified of both Diya and Martinez herself, and, some of that was Martinez’s fault.</p><p>Poor thing. She was far too skinny for her own good, and clearly didn’t eat often enough, as the three plates full of food she consumed was clear to indicate. Morgan had a limp, barely noticeable at first, but when Martinez recalled how she had stood from the table to retrieve more food,  even after her fall from the coffee table, it was clear she favored her right leg over her left. Most striking of the many signs of injuries that Morgan had, aside from the pills that she had taken before her meal, was the large scar, surgical in nature, it would be obvious to even those clueless to the medical field, that adorned the left side of her head. To be honest, to Martinez, Morgan greatly resembled a monster.</p><p>No, it was obvious now. Martinez’s shame deepened as she replayed the conversation between her and the human. Morgan was a woman, looking for a home that would accept her and help her recovery, and what had she found? A wild, naked manananggal, ravenously eating meat and showing off her claws and teeth? A quick to anger, paranoid Dullahan who screamed at her for not knowing of Monsters, when Morgan herself had mentioned intense memory loss from her accident?</p><p>Martinez wasn’t sure she could feel lower if she had planned this scenario out herself.  She’d make it right though. Morgan would wake up and...she’d make it right.</p><p>Fortunately, Morgan was more resilient than her physicality belied, as evidenced by her quick awakening from her stupor, to which she was face to face with the apologetic Martinez, who had yet to replace her head.</p><p>“So...” Martinez would have had a sheepish grin on her face had her head been on, “I have to apologize for my...behavior. It was incredibly, uh, it was incredibly unbecoming for anyone, but I am extremely ashamed for saying what I said. Er, would you like for me to put my head back on?”</p><p>Morgan rubbed her eyes and looked at Martinez, who was holding her head just out of sight behind her back.</p><p>“Uh, sure.”  Morgan nodded slowly, the conversation from just a few minutes before returning to her. Martinez snapped the head back on with a casual motion, smiling as the light of life returned to her eyes.</p><p>“I can’t begin to express how sorry I am for...what just happened.” Martinez rubbed the back of her neck. “I’ve had...poor interactions with humans before and it’s not fair of me to take that out on you. If you are still interested in living here, with us, well, our home is your home now.”</p><p>"I’m-I’m sorry, but, um, this is all kind of overwhelming. I have to step out for a moment.”</p><p>“Oh, um, OK! Do you need any water or a jacket or-”</p><p>“No! No, I just, I just have to go.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Heyo! If you wanna chat or see when I'm posting a new chapter, hmu on twitter at amelia_m93</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Morgan was out the door as quickly as she could move. Before she could hear Martinez’s protest, before she could feel the sharp pains in her legs, the human was back into the hallway and out the stairwell door. Every step down the stairwell resulted in a jolt of lightning that rocked Morgan from her toes to her neck, but she continued downwards until she found herself outside of the building, standing where she had initially entered.  Her lungs protested bitterly as the morning winter winds entered them once more.</p><p>There were a handful of stone steps that led to the front door and that was where Morgan sat, her breath ragged and short and her body angrily screaming it’s distaste for her quick run down.</p><p>It was pathetic, really, how easily she got winded. While Morgan couldn’t remember much, Morgan could remember being at least <em>mildly </em>athletic before the accident. According to…someone she had spoken to, she had been wearing jogging pants and a tank top at the time, so it stood to reason she was exercising at the time, right?</p><p>A raucous cough pulled her from her thoughts. Morgan looked in the direction of the cough and was struck by the sight of a man dressed head to feet in winter wear. A wool cap, a scarf wrapped around his nose and mouth, a thick padded coat and pants, and snow boots all created an ensemble of a man prepared for mountaineering.</p><p>“M’rnin” The man’s voice was recognizably gruff, regardless of the fabric covering his mouth.</p><p>“Uh, good morning,” Morgan waved to the man meekly. “Er, am I in your way, or-”</p><p>“Yer good,” The man walked up the stairs, taking care to not step on Morgan. When he reached the top, the man began to search his many pockets for something. When he couldn’t find it he sighed and turned to Morgan, who avoided his eyes by turning away from him.</p><p>“Y’r new here, aintcha?”</p><p>“That obvious?”</p><p>“You might be surprised. Maybe not. Name’s Harald.”</p><p>“Oh, um, My name’s Morgan. Morgan Orozco”</p><p>“Mor-gan Or-oz-co.” Harald worked over the name slowly, like it was a piece of gum to be chewed on. “Can’t say I’ve ever heard that name before.”</p><p>“Well, I’ve never met someone named Harald. Harold, maybe, but not Harald.”</p><p>Harald nodded slowly “Tha’s fair. Harold used to be Harald, but now it ain’t. Y’mind if I join you, I’m gonna be out here awhile.”</p><p>“Sure,” Morgan shifted over so Harald could take a seat next to her. As he got close, Morgan noticed a sweet scent in the air, like a perfume that a pushy customer service representative would offer you to sample upon entering their place of employment. It was exceedingly pleasant, and its presence set Morgan’s frayed nerves to ease.</p><p>“Speakin’ of out here,” Harald pulled down his scarf, revealing a clean-shaven face covered in multiple scars of varied lengths that ran from his chin to his forehead. “What’re you doing out in the cold? Shouldn’t ya be getting moved in?”</p><p>“I mean,” Morgan began with a sigh “I really should be, but Martinez and I had a bit of…I don’t know, a fight? She freaked out and I freaked out and ran downstairs and now I’m here.”</p><p>“You’re moving in with Marty and the rest?” Harald shook his head and whistled low “Damn, never thought I’d see the day they had another human move in with ‘em.”</p><p>"That’s the problem, actua-. Wait. You know I’m human?” Morgan’s heart began to beat furiously.</p><p>“Wasn’t much to tell. Humans, Monsters, we smell different, and ya don’t smell a  bit Monstrous. Don’t worry ‘bout it though,” Harald smiled a small, reassuring smile “I ain’t got no problems with humans. Most of us don’t, to be honest. Marty and them though, they got wha’s called extenuating circumstances. Baggage, basically.”</p><p>“Does it bother you at all? The idea of a human moving into Monster Town?”</p><p>“Bother me? Not really. It does confuse me though. Not sure what kinda human wants to live in Jimton.”</p><p>“A desperate one, I guess? A human who had no idea what Monsters were until this morning.”</p><p>“ ’s that right? How’d ya manage to avoid 25 years of relative peace ‘tween the species’?”</p><p>“Car accident knocked me over and most of my brain fell out with it.” Morgan smiled, covering her mouth with her hand. “You’d be surprised what you can forget when you’re in a coma for a few weeks.”</p><p>“Mmm,” Harald answered with a grunt.”One hell of a wakeup call. ‘m sorry your first experience with a Monster was ya getting into it.”</p><p>“Yeah…” Morgan thought for a second. “You mentioned baggage. Is there a story there?”</p><p>“There is, but I’m not one to talk about it. If anyone else offers to tell ya the story, turn ‘em down. Only people who’ll tell the right story is them.”</p><p>“But it was bad.”</p><p>Harald nodded solemnly. “’bout the worst thing that could happen to a Monster.”</p><p>With that, Morgan went silent, choosing to watch as birds, black and brown, pecked at the ground. Musing over the information given to her, she supposed Martinez’s reaction made a small amount of sense. The anger and fear were obviously misdirected towards Morgan, but she could see the feelings behind them.</p><p>“’m a werewolf.” Harald’s voice drew  Morgan out of her thoughts. “In case you were wondering,”</p><p>Morgan really hadn’t been, but when she thought about, it probably made sense to question what type of Monster Harald was. He looked, for all intents and purposes, as human as Morgan herself, but then again, so did Martinez, at least when she had her head-on. Diya, on the other hand, well, she was a class of humanoid unto herself. Were there only those two types of Monster; those who looked human and those who did not, or, perhaps, there were more ways to classify them?</p><p>Another sound pulled Morgan from her contemplation, this time the click of a door being opened.</p><p>“Harald Fairhair, I am <em>so</em> done with you,” A short, dirty blonde-haired, man with wings instead of arms and spindly legs that ended in claws that far more resembled a bird’s than a human was holding the door to the apartment open with one of his feet. “Were you really going to spend all morning outside?”</p><p>“Mmm,” Harald responded noncommittally. “Sorry, Adrian. Didn’t wanna wake ya by callin’”</p><p>“Well, I’m awake now,” Adrian rolled his eyes and looked over to Morgan, who was trying not to stare at his legs. “And who’s this? A new…’friend’ of yours?”</p><p>“Somethin’ like that,” Harald cocked an eyebrow towards Morgan. “She’s movin’ in upstairs.”</p><p>“Oh yeah? With whom?”</p><p>“302,”</p><p>"Sucks to be her then,” Adrian hadn’t turned away from  Morgan, though his eyes had narrowed significantly, an expression that Morgan found uncomfortable. “What sort of Monster are you, Miss…?”</p><p>“Morgan Orozco, and I’m not a Monster. I’m a human.”</p><p>“Oh wow. They’re really letting anybody move here now,” Harald twitched at Adrian’s tone, which was droll and sardonic. “Anyway, breakfast’s getting cold, and I’ve got shit to do. C’mon babe.”</p><p>Harald nodded a goodbye to Morgan and followed Adrian, who strutted away, quite like a chicken, Morgan decided.</p><p>A cool breeze did little to bring down the heat that had settled itself in Morgan’s cheeks. It was embarrassing enough to be put on the spot concerning her…species, but to then be shamed for it? Adrian was an asshole, that was as evident as the color of the sky, but Harald seemed nice if a bit inscrutable at first. The fact those two could be together in any capacity was strange, to say the least, but to each their own, Morgan supposed.</p><p>Speaking of uncomfortable situations, it was probably time to go back to 302. While she wasn’t sure how long she had been outside, Morgan was starting to lose feeling in her fingers and toes. The cold had snuck up on her while she was being insulted by Adrian.</p><p>The trip up the stairs took considerably more time than the trip down, but Morgan made it nonetheless, gasping somewhat for air as she took the final step. Three flights of stairs every single day was either going to get her back into the shape she was in before the accident or was going to kill her. Probably the latter, but Morgan didn’t have much of a say either way.</p><p>The front door to 302 was unlocked so Morgan let herself in without knocking, though, considering the apartment was supposed to be as much her’s as the other occupants, she couldn’t think of a reason to. Martinez had apparently not moved from the spot she was sitting when Morgan had left her, though she had taken her head off in the interim.</p><p>“I’m back,” Morgan called out as she walked into the living room. Martinez snapped to attention, grabbing her head and snapping it into place before she turned to Morgan and smiled. She was about to speak when  she was cut off by Morgan putting up her hands in an attempt to stop the deluge of words coming from the other woman.</p><p>“Listen…today’s been pretty rough for me, and it’s not even 9:00. I don’t wanna come across as dramatic or not thankful, but I really don’t have anywhere else to go if it’s not OK for me to live here. Be that as it may, I’ll leave Jimton if I’m gonna make people uncomfortable or make it so the Monster’s here’ll look down on you for letting a human live with you. No hard feelings or anything, I promise.”</p><p>Morgan had looked down as she had made her offer, but when she looked up, she saw Martinez had gone pale</p><p>“I-I am so sorry” Martinez spoke after a moment. “Morgan, I meant what I said before you left; I acted horribly towards you for reasons that have nothing to do with you. You should never feel unwelcome in our home. In your home. I did a terrible job of making you feel welcome earlier, but…” She reached out a hand. “Maybe we could try again?”</p><p>Morgan reached her hand out as well, slowly, and took Martinez’s hand in her’s.</p><p>“Nice to meet you.” Morgan introduced herself as they shook hands. “My name’s Morgan Orozco, and I’m a human.”</p><p>“Pleased to meet you Miss Orozco. I’m Martinez O’Connell, and I’m a dullahan.”</p><p>As the pair let go of the other's hand, Martinez smiled at Morgan and Morgan smiled back. It was nice to forgive and it was nicer to forget what had transpired just a while before this moment, though the name Martinez O’Connell offered a mystery Morgan had nowhere near the mental fortitude to confront.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Chapter 3</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It was with a heavy heart that Morgan stepped out of the bathroom, wiping her chin with a stray piece of toilet paper. It seemed that running up and down the stairs, stuffing herself to the point of bursting, and the stress of her world view being irrevocably changed had led to Morgan needing to spend some face to face time with the porcelain throne. In-between heaves and sobs, Morgan relayed her apologies to Martinez, who had sat in the bathroom with the human, for her stomach's betrayal. The dullahan seemed to take the situation in stride.</p><p>"So, that was the bathroom," Martinez said, her voice carrying a small bit of grimness as she closed the door behind her. "Down the hall to the left is my room, next to that is Diya's, and other side of mine is Eva's."</p><p>"Eva?" Morgan asked as she took a few steps down the hallway.</p><p>"Eva Peyton, our friendly little spider demon. Oh, uh, don't let the term 'demon' scare you off, she's a sweetheart, but she might take a little while to warm up to you," Martinez pointed to the door, which had a large sign with the words "Not Diya's Room" written on it.</p><p>"Not Diya's Room?" Morgan read out loud before she turned to Martinez with a confused look.</p><p>"Oh, yeah, Diya's got a hobby for bringing in...guests to the apartment and...entertaining them at all times of the day, usually 'round nighttime." Martinez shrugged as she turned from the hallway and walked away. "More than once, they'd stumble their way into Eva's room, and she got tired of it, I figure."</p><p>Entertaining guests? To Morgan, the description said by Martinez made it almost sound like Diya was, well, a hooker. Martinez must have seen the puzzled look on Morgan's face, as she was quick to shake her neck.</p><p>"Please don't misunderstand, Diya's not...whatever it is you might be thinking, not that there's anything wrong with that, mind. Diya's just a very loving person who...expresses it in a very physical sense."</p><p>"Oh, don't let her fool you" A husky voice suddenly spoke from behind Morgan, who whipped around to see the source. "I'm only allowed guests on the weekend."</p><p>It was Diya, still standing tall and proud and, thankfully, fully clothed in an outfit consisting of a long, fluffy pink jacket, a long-sleeved white shirt, and a pleated blue skirt. Even with the benefit of clothing, Diya still cut an incredibly thin figure, though her outfit framed her well.</p><p>"Ah, speak of the Devil," Martinez stepped forward, placing herself just in front of Morgan, though not enough to obscure her view.</p><p>"And I appear." Diya smiled down and waved to Morgan, who meekly waved back.</p><p>"Diya, I'm sure you remember, but, just in case, this is-"</p><p>"Morgan Orozco," Diya gesticulated her hand towards Martinez dismissively, her eyes unwavering as they locked with Morgan's "I remember."</p><p>"Nice to see you again," Morgan nodded slightly and reached out her hand, her heart began to thump loudly in her chest. Seeing Diya again was something of a reminder for how odd the world had become after she had arrived in Jimton. Then again, Martinez had been walking without her head for most of the day, so perhaps it was more Diya and her inhuman appearance that was causing the unease in the human.</p><p>Diya chuckled and reached her hand out as well, her hand easily engulfing Morgan's. "No need to be so stiff, Morgan. We'll be seeing a lot more of each other as the days go by. Then again... I'm sure you've seen enough of me for one day,"</p><p>Morgan's face reddened. Martinez huffed and stepped herself between the human and the manananggal, both of whom were much taller than her.</p><p>"Diya, you need to chill" Martinez's voice was tense and stern. "It's barely her first day, and you're already jumping all over her."</p><p>"Jumping all over her?" Diya's eyes shifted focus from Morgan's eyes to the darkness that sat atop Martinez's neck. That was where a person was expected to look at Morgan when she had her head off, it seemed "Martinez, I assure you, I am far from 'jumping'" Diya, dramatically gestured a pair of quotation marks. "all over our new roommate. I was merely trying to extend a bit of cordiality towards our new friend,"</p><p>"C-cordiality?" Martinez crossed her arms. "<strong><b>You</b></strong> are trying to tell me you're being cordial?"<br/>"Well, of course!" Diya laughed "I would hope the daughter of High Monster Royalty would recognize a bit of cordiality in her life,"</p><p>"Ohohokay, first of all, <strong><b>Diya</b></strong>, don't even try to bring up my mother right now. You know you won't like where that road takes you. Secondly, flying in naked and then fucking off when you scare a person half to death and then bombarding them with, I don't know, your fucked up version of attention, isn't what I would call cordial,"</p><p>The two Monsters were beginning to get louder, a fact that was causing Morgan an undue amount of stress. Being involved in a quarrel was terrible enough, but being the subject of one? It was nearly unbearable. Or perhaps actually unbearable, as Morgan made an effort to slip away in the chaos ruminating between her two new roommates. One of the rooms down the hall was probably hers; she vaguely remembered Martinez telling her something of that nature, and, hopefully, Morgan could slip inside without being noticed and gain some sanctuary.</p><p>In a particularly heated moment, where Diya had closed her eyes and crossed her arms and Martinez had stepped up on her toes in a desperate, and honestly futile, effort to match Diya's height, Morgan found a doorknob and turned it with as much deftness as she could muster, managing to sneak inside the room before the pair could notice her disappearance.</p><p>The room was unsurprisingly sparse, containing only a well-made bed in the corner, a dresser just under Morgan's height in the opposite corner, and, strangely, a writing desk next to what seemed to be a closet door. Morgan couldn't remember if she had mentioned to Martinez in their correspondence she had something of a hobby with writing. Still, she appreciated the inclusion of the piece of furniture all the same.</p><p>Morgan took a few moments to minutes to move her meager belongings from their current domicile, her backpack, to their hopefully permanent homes, for the time being. Unfurling a handful of shirts to fold them, Morgan glanced bemused at the slogans written on the shirts. What paltry amounts of money that were given to her after leaving the hospital had sustained Morgan reasonably well, thanks in large part to the many thrift shops that adorned the area. Most everything she owned, from the backpack that held her whole life to her notebooks to her t-shirts, decorated with slogans such as "Are Your Cats Old Enough To Learn About Jesus?" or "EAT CHEESEBURGER TODAY" came from a thrift store. Thank whatever deity that took enough pity not to kill her but retained enough cruelty to put her through the accident that some people seemed to get rid of some handy stuff.</p><p>There was a soft knock at the door, and Morgan called for the person on the other side to come in. Did Monsters consider themselves "people" in that sense? Did they call themselves people when they were in a group or just Monsters? What was a group of Monsters called? Questions to be answered later, Morgan supposed.</p><p>Martinez opened the door and stuck her non-head in the room. Even with the limited view given, Morgan could see Martinez had changed outfits, choosing now to wear a smart, intense business suit, with a brown vest over a light blue long-sleeved shirt tucked into dark blue pants. With the benefit of rolled-up sleeves and tighter clothing, Morgan finally noticed that Martinez was incredibly built and muscular, just her forearms far dwarfing those of Morgan's.</p><p>"Hey!" Martinez seemed chipper, despite the confrontation she had just had with Diya. "You found your room! Hope you don't mind the, uh, lack of accouterment, but I wasn't sure how you wanted your room so, we left your room as is. Diya, on the other hand," Martinez sighed, an odd movement for a headless person to make, "Diya insisted we put <strong><b>that</b></strong>," She pointed to above Morgan's bed. "there as a welcoming present."</p><p>Morgan turned and looked at the head of her bed, only to realize there was a large painting hanging there. Its imagery was immediately striking, a veritable typhoon of black on a white canvas that drew the eye down its dark path into the abyss in the center. Morgan wasn't sure what the painting meant, but it was evoking something within her.</p><p>'Please please pleeease don't hesitate to take it down if it starts to, um, disturb you." Martinez's fingers drummed against the doorway. "Diya's artwork is good, to be sure, it can just have a...gloomy quality to it."</p><p>"Oh, no no no, I like it just fine." Morgan stared at the painting for a few moments, her eyes enthralled by the blackness. "So, uh, Diya likes to paint?"</p><p>"Mmm" was Martinez's initial response. "Painting and gallivanting, that's what Diya's best at. Anyway, just wanted to check in before I left. Work starts in 10, and the walk takes about 15, so I got a bit of a jog on my hands. You going to be alright on your own?</p><p>"I'll be fine," Morgan nodded, though she wasn't quite sure how true the statement was.</p><p>"Awesome. I really hope you learn to like it here Morgan, even after, err, everything. Number to the Mayor's office is on the fridge Diya'll probably be taking off soon, and Eva never leaves her room, so you should be okay, okay? Bye!"</p><p>With that, Martinez was gone, her words a flurry of direction and instruction, the speed of which left Morgan's head spinning. Diya was going to the Mayor's office, and Eva was going with her or something to that effect. Morgan wasn't sure, but then again, she wasn't sure of much anymore. She wasn't sure if she ever had been.</p><p>It had been about an hour since Martinez had left, and Morgan was organizing her pills, choosing to place the painkillers in the top drawer of the dresser and everything else in the bottom when there was another knock on her door. Morgan was slow to stand but quick to move as she ran to the door and opened it.</p><p>For the third time in a day, Diya looked down at Morgan, and for the second time in a day, Morgan mentally admonished herself for being uncomfortable in the manananggal's presence. Regardless of her heart's quickened beat, Morgan managed a genuine smile up towards Diya, who face never seemed to change from that expression.</p><p>"How are you finding your accommodations, Ms. Orozco?" Diya asked, her voice quiet and even.</p><p>"Oh, fine, fine. They're ...good. Nothing to, well, not too big, not too small. Just right for me, I...suppose." Morgan trailed off, her response feeling rather silly.</p><p>"Good, good!" Diya's smile widened beyond its already impossible length and clapped her hands together. "Martinez left it mostly to myself to become the interior decorator my mother always wanted me to be, so I did what I could with what details she gave me about you. Tell me, truthfully, do you think I did a satisfactory job?"</p><p>"Oh, yeah! I mean, what else could I ask for? A bed, a dresser, a writing desk. Pretty much my version of heaven."</p><p>"I'm so glad to hear that." Diya clapped her hands again. "Though, if I were to be 100% honest with you, I came to ask your opinion of my work there."</p><p>Diya pointed to the painting Martinez had called Morgan's attention to earlier. Like before, looking at the picture caught Morgan in something of a spell, her swimming as if to match the whirling pattern of black on the canvas.</p><p>"It's ...hmm...well, it's interesting. I like it, that's for sure. I just don't have much to say about...art. I'm not particularly artistic myself, so-"</p><p>"Oh, don't say that," Diya clicked her tongue, an alarmingly loud noise. "Everybody has an artist in them just waiting to be cultivated. Marty told me you're something of a poet."</p><p>"Uh, did she? I...forgot I told her that. Yeah, poetry's my, my thing, I guess, but it's nothing like that." Morgan pointed to the painting.</p><p>"Words paint pictures the same as my brushes." Diya crossed her arms. "Don't sell your art short just because it's not visual."</p><p>"Umm, Okay. I won't?" Morgan tentatively agreed though she wasn't sure what point Diya was trying to make. Whatever it was, Diya was hellbent on making Morgan believe it as well.</p><p>"Good! I'm glad I agree. Now, come along. We're going to the Rattlers'" Diya was quick to step from Morgan's doorway, leaving Morgan confused in her room.</p><p>"E-excuse me? The Rattlers?" Morgan followed Diya down the hallway into the living room.</p><p>"Yes, the Rattlers'. Creating my last piece used up the last bit of my supplies, and Margarita called to let me know they received an order of mine. I was struck with inspiration last night, and I need to paint as soon as possible not to lose my next creation."</p><p>"And you, you want me to come with you?"</p><p>"You don't want to be trapped inside this silly apartment all day, do you?" Diya stopped in her tracks and turned to Morgan, who nearly crashed into the taller woman.</p><p>"I...No, I guess not." Morgan acquiesced.</p><p>"Of course not. There are things to do and sights to see, and I know for a fact Jimton can't wait to meet its newest resident."</p><p>"Do you think everyone will be okay with me being-"</p><p>"A human?" Diya interrupted. "I can't see why they wouldn't be. Marty can be a bit overprotective, but she most certainly doesn't speak for every Monster in town."</p><p>Martinez wasn't the only Monster on Morgan's mind, a certain harpy that also lived in the apartment quickly made his thoughts on Morgan's presence known also dwelt there, but Diya had already disappeared from her view, leaving Morgan with little else than her thoughts. Diya's energy was overwhelming, if not outright intimidating, the likes of which made Morgan wonder if she even wanted to go the so-called "Rattlers" or if Diya's liveliness was just overpowering Morgan's. On the other hand, Morgan didn't want to spend the entire day in her room, but leaving the sanctuary of apartment 302 on her own seemed unfathomable. Plus, Morgan admitted to herself that Diya's vivacity, when not challenging her, had an infectious quality to it. Morgan <em>was</em> looking forward to seeing whatever the heck a Rattler was, and Diya seemed fit enough to protect if anything went wrong, what with her claws and teeth.</p><p>Morgan was ruminating on the potential forms of prejudice she might experience out on the town when Diya emerged from her bedroom. Still dressed in her previous outfit, Diya was now wearing a pair of white sunglasses, a fluffy pink sweater, and was holding a comically out of proportion pink handbag.</p><p>"Ready when you are," Diya said as she crossed in front of Morgan and stood at the door. Morgan looked down at herself, her shirt displaying the phrase "I Teach AWESOME Kids" and nodded her head. She was ready.</p><p>The air was warmer than before, though there was enough of a cool breeze that Morgan's lungs still made their complaints known to her when she inhaled. Diya's stride, just like her, was long and graceful, but she kept a slow enough pace that Morgan was able to keep up with her without straining herself. However, Morgan had wished she had asked Diya how far the Rattlers was from the apartment, as she wasn't sure she could make the return trip. Sometime during the walk, Diya had produced a cigarette from her purse and was smoking it, taking care to exhale away from Morgan, who appreciated the effort.</p><p>A surprising desire to break the silence sprang into Morgan, an unfamiliar feeling that she wasn't sure how to rectify. Diya had been silent for the fifteen minutes they had been walking, and the situation was feeling strange.</p><p>"So..." Morgan began, without much of a game plan for finishing the sentence.</p><p>"So?" Diya replied, turning her head to face Morgan. Even from behind dark lenses, Morgan could see the yellow of Diya's eyes peer into hers.</p><p>"How, how long have you been painting...for?" The question felt lame as Morgan asked it, but it was out there to be answered.</p><p>"Most of my life," Diya extinguished her cigarette by grinding it onto her tongue and popped the butt into her mouth with no ceremony. Morgan pretended not to notice. "There weren't many opportunities to show off my creations in The Under, but moving topside to Jimton helped turn my...I hesitate to call my passion a hobby, but it turned my hobby into a full-time career."</p><p>"So, you paint professionally," Morgan stated.</p><p>"I do. Monsters are still fairly new to you humans, and aspects of our culture retain a sense of novelty, and I fill a niche."</p><p>"Hmm. So, you make enough selling your paintings to pay all of your bills?"</p><p>"Oh, yes. My art is popular among collectors. I will admit, Marty covers most of the expenses for our home, so any worry I could have regarding bills tends not to exist."</p><p>"Really? Why does Martinez do th-"</p><p>"Here we are!' Diya had stopped, causing Morgan to trip into the Monster woman. Diya gently caught Morgan by her shoulder and back, helping her back into a standing position.</p><p>"I can imagine being excited, Ms. Orozco, to meet the Rattlers, but please don't hurt yourself on their account." Diya admonished Morgan, whose shoulder began to ache from Diya's grip.</p><p>Diya led Morgan over a parking lot to a relatively large building with a sign that read "Squiggly-Wiggly" above tinted glass doors. Aside from the doors and the sign, the store looked positively ramshackle, to the point that Morgan absentmindedly wondered if Diya had brought her out to kill her in the so-called "Squiggly-Wiggly," but the thought seemed frivolous. If Diya wanted her dead, there was little Morgan could do about, Morgan thought to herself.</p><p>"You get your art supplies from a convenience store?" Morgan asked, more incredulously than she had meant for it to be.</p><p>"I do. Where else would I get them?" Diya asked back to Morgan.</p><p>"An art store, I guess."</p><p>"I suppose that would be true. We don't have one of those in Jimton. We have," Diya paused as she pushed a glass door open. "Squiggly-Wiggly"</p><p>A chime rang through the convenience store, though no one came to its call. Morgan turned to Diya to ask another question, but Diya had already stepped away from her human companion to examine one of the many shelves that were in the store. Morgan decided to do the same.</p><p>The internals of the Rattler's store was a simple set up, with multiple shelves holding various varied products, some familiar and some very foreign. Next to differently colored bags of red, orange, blue, and every other combination of those colors and more were bags of black, decorated with nothing but white lettering that read in a language Morgan couldn't identify at all. In the back, in the refrigerated sections, next to cans of iced teas were similarly shaped cans, also black, also covered in the same white lettering. In front of the checkout counter was a display of ready-made food, laid in a small refrigeration unit. While Morgan could recognize some of the types of food, such as sushi and sandwiches, there were foods held in plastic containers that Morgan barely begin to fathom, much less describe. In one particular box sat a smear of some sort of black paste that was covered in what looked like multicolored glitter. It was meant to be eaten, as there was a spoon included with the black smear, but what it would taste was beyond her.</p><p>"Diya!" A loud, feminine voice called out. Morgan placed a black bag of what felt like gummy candies back onto their hook and looked to its source.</p><p>A tall woman with incredibly green skin was standing on the other side of the shelf Morgan herself was standing at. Her face was conventionally attractive in a "human" sense, with her high cheekbones, thin lips, and large brown eyes. However, her Monstrous nature showed itself further than her green skin, as her face was surrounded with scales that covered her cheeks, forehead, ears, and ran down her neck. Her hair, curly and cut into an asymmetrical bob, was also green, though a much lighter shade than her skin. As she smiled at Diya, Morgan could see the woman had two very long fangs where her canines would be, were she a human.</p><p>"Margarita," Diya murmured, drawing out every syllable of Margarita's name. "You said you received my package."</p><p>"Of course, of course, but do you always have to be so cold?" Margarita chuckled as she went around the shelf to get closer to Diya.</p><p>Morgan braced herself for another shock as she saw Margarita's body, but instead of fear or a disturbance, a feeling of realization flowed into her. Margarita's body triggered something of remembrance in Morgan, a memory she hadn't thought of in quite some time. Back, back, a long time back, long enough Morgan couldn't remember if it was in elementary or middle school, Morgan had gained a keen interest in Mythology, spurred on by a viewing of the 1981 film Clash of The Titans. Be it Greek, Norse, or Japanese, young Morgan would spend hours in her school's library, pouring over reference books that described the many gods and creatures that made up the world of the ancients. Through the texts and reading Morgan subjected herself to, her absolute favorite Monster was Ray Harryhausen's interpretation of the gorgon Medusa. Medusa, of course, was made into a gorgon by the goddess Athena for some reason or another, the gods always came up with asinine reasons to curse their followers, and being a gorgon meant gaining a petrifying gaze and a head of hair made up of venomous snakes. However, in the film Crash of The Titans, Ray Harryhausen added an additional snakelike attribute to Medusa. In addition to her hair, the lower half of Medusa's body was changed to that of a snake, the likes of which Medusa slithered around on while she roamed her cave, vanquishing her foes until Perseus came and cut off her head. Morgan always hated that part.</p><p>Having the lower half of her body be a snake and not human changed Medusa, to say the least. While she was, for all intents and purposes, still a gorgon, the lower half of her body also made Medusa a monster documented in Hindu mythology, known as a-</p><p>"NAGA!" Morgan shouted triumphantly, loudly, her hands outstretched in front of her. Margarita recoiled as this random, heretofore unseen human next to her screamed her species aloud; even Diya's steely composure seemed shaken by the outburst.</p><p>As the windows and shelves stopped quacking from the shout, Morgan threw her hands over her mouth, her eyes widening in horror and her face darkening in embarrassment.</p><p>Margarita's face settled from its initial expression of shock into one of stilled forbidding, her eyes drawing as she looked Morgan up and down quickly.</p><p>"Yes, well," Margarita brushed some dust from the apron tied around her waist. "Welcome to Squiggly-Wiggly, the premier one-stop-shop for all and any of your Monster, and human, needs. Is there anything I can do for you, Ms...?"</p><p>Morgan had yet to take her hands from her mouth. She wanted to say something, anything, an apology, an explanation, fucking anything that could offer some sort of justification for her declaration. However, somewhere between her brain and body, her nerves failed her, so Morgan stood still, frozen in place like the many paralyzed figures that dared enter Medusa's lair.</p><p>"Orozco!" A pair of giant hands wrapped around Morgan's arms as Diya proclaimed the human's name. "She's new in town."</p><p>"You don't say," Margarita shifted her gaze from Morgan to Diya. "Ah, right, your, uh, package."</p><p>Margarita slithered to the back of the store, slipping through a door in the back marked "Snake's Only." When she was out of view, Morgan finally drew in a deep breath and exhaled slowly, her heart finally beginning to slow and her vision becoming clear.</p><p>"Oh god," she whispered under her breath. "Oh god oh god oh god I'm such an asshole,"</p><p>"I would hardly call you an asshole, Ms. Orozco," Diya let go of Morgan's arms, patted her on the head, and returned to perusing the shelves. "Perhaps a bit...ignorant regarding Monster/Human social interactions, but not an asshole."</p><p>The rest of the visit was thankfully short, with Margarita coming from the back with a brown box and Diya buying what ended up being a reasonably large bag full of random items. When Diya called "Come along Ms. Orozco," and headed out the door, Morgan was all too happy to follow her, her face beginning to burn as she accidentally caught Margarita's eyes she headed out the door.</p><p>Morgan cursed to herself as another gust of freezing wind blustered its way across her body, sending her teeth chattering and her body shivering once again. Though she and Diya hadn't spent much time at the Squiggly-Wiggly, fifteen minutes at the least, thirty minutes at the most, the weather had taken a turn for the much worse. The air had dropped in multiple degrees, and the wind seemed to make it feel even colder. Worst still, as the pain in her knees and shoulders could attest, it looked as though rain was on the horizon, and if the weather turned to that, Morgan wasn't sure she could make it home.</p><p>On the other hand, there was Diya, who despite her, well, Morgan wasn't sure if petite was the right word to describe the manananggal, petite seemed a word too short, but despite Diya's petite figure, she walked through the wind as though she couldn't feel the cold or the wind.</p><p>"You seem uncomfortable, Ms. Orozco," Diya observed as she opened one of the black bags she bought from Squiggly-Wiggly. Daintily, she reached two claws into the bag and withdrew what looked to be a small gummy octopus of dueling green and pink colors and covered in tiny white specks of something or other. Distressingly, Morgan noticed the candy seemed to squirm as Diya placed it into her mouth, and while Morgan wasn't sure when or why she had started to watch Diya eat, she was sure wasn't going to do it anymore.</p><p>"Y'know, you, you can just call me Morgan, and y-yeah, it's a little cold for me." Morgan shivered as if to highlight her answer to the other woman.</p><p>"Poor humans. Weather can be so cruel to your kind."</p><p>Diya shed her pink jacket and plopped it down on Morgan's shoulders. Morgan was already wearing a small coat of her own, a gray hoodie emblazoned with the words "Roses are Red, I am BLUE," but the new source of warmth was more than appreciated though the pink jacket easily engulfed Morgan as if she were wearing a poncho as opposed to a piece of overwear.</p><p>"Oh! Uh, thanks Diya. Are you sure you wanna give me your jacket? Won't you get cold?"</p><p>"Not particularly," Diya answered as popped another gummy into her mouth. "I wore that jacket more as a stylistic choice than to keep myself warm. Besides, Manananggal's aren't allowed to be cold, so we aren't"</p><p>Morgan wasn't sure what Diya meant by the last half of her statement, but if that meant she didn't have to give the jacket back, she was okay with it.</p><p>A question popped into Morgan's head. "Do you, do you know how many Monsters are live in J-Jimton?" God, even with the additional source of warmth Morgan was still shivering. Diya took a few moments to mull over the question before answering.</p><p>"Around 150, I believe. If you need a more exact number, you're going to have to ask Marty. She's involved with that sort of information."</p><p>Morgan wasn't sure what number she wanted to hear, but 150 wasn't it. One hundred fifty different Monsters of various sizes, shapes, even colors, Margarita was clear evidence of all three, and Morgan could imagine being introduced to each one and making a complete jackass of herself every single time. No, that was not going to work, not at all. If Morgan was going to live in Jimton for now on, and she better, she gave Sheila a down payment that consisted of her first month and last month's rent, she was going to have to get used to the other inhabitants of the town that weren't her roommates.</p><p>The moment the human and Monster duo stepped into Apartment 302, exhaustion hit Morgan like a wave crashing into an unsuspecting child playing on the beach. Though she had more questions for Diya, such as "Why do you smile so much?" or "Does Jimton have a library?" or, most importantly, "Is there a thrift shop close by?" Morgan choose instead to sit down on the living room couch and ruminate on the day that passed. Well, the day was too long a unit of time and ruminate was too strong a verb, but Morgan considered the last hour and a half carefully.</p><p>Morgan wanted to understand her new home better, and really, she had to. Wandering around town, blindly trying to interact with the community of Monsters that made their home in Jimton wouldn't do much else but lead to more embarrassment on the part of Morgan and resentment from the town if Margarita's reaction was anything to go by.</p><p>God, she was fucking tired. It seemed almost pathetic to be so worn-out after what amounted to a brisk walk to the store and back. As hard as Morgan attempted to keep her eyes open, the human could feel the slow touch of sleep begin to envelop her.</p><p>"I think I'm gonna head to bed Diya," Morgan murmured, though Diya seemed to hear her regardless.</p><p>"Oh? It's only noon." Diya had pulled a phone from her handbag and looked to be texting, or perhaps writing a long note for herself.</p><p>"Yeah, I'm about to fall unconscious, dude." Morgan stood and wandered her way to her bedroom. Before she walked through the doorway, she turned and waved for Diya's attention. "Thanks for inviting me out today. It was nice, uh, spending time with you."</p><p>Diya smiled, showing off her teeth, and winked at Morgan. "Anytime, Morgan."</p><p>Morgan continued her short trek into her bedroom and stripped down to her underwear. She had a set of clothing she used as pajamas, the top having one of those bunnies that said rude things, the bunny on Morgan's shirt said "HI, LOSER," and a pair of pink sweats that had the word JOICE on the butt, but Morgan flopped into bed without putting them on. No one else was planning to come into her room, she hoped, so why expend the effort.</p><p>Morgan used the last bit of energy she had to pull the covers over herself and closed her eyes, sleep overcoming meager defenses.</p><p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Chapter 4</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Morgan Orozco lay on her back, nude as the day she was born, her face looking upwards at a cloudless sky. Sunlight warmed her as she bobbed up and down on a vast body of water. For the first time in what felt like an eternity, the aches and pains that found their home in the young woman's body were gone, and for the first time in what felt like an eternity, Morgan could relax. </p><p>She moved from laying on her back to standing position, though the water was too deep for her feet to touch the bottom. She kicked her legs back and forth to keep her head above the water and sighed contently. The water was considerably warm, with the midday sun beating down on her, though a burst of coolness moved itself across Morgan's left leg. Morgan thought little of the sensation, but her relaxation was torn from her as she was pulled beneath the water. A rip current, it seemed, had caught her as she drifted through the water. The human was thrashed about under the water, tossed to and fro, back and forth, spun so wildly about that Morgan could hardly tell which direction was up and which direction was down.</p><p>Most in her circumstance might have panicked and attempted to swim against the current or somewhere outside of the torrential rip, usually to their own detriment and death. Morgan, however, somehow knew the best way to escape a relentless current is to wait, as she would eventually be pushed to its own end, and she would be able to reorient herself and find the surface. Worryingly, the current seemed to have to no end and retained its grasp tight onto Morgan, whose lungs were beginning to burn and whose eyes had long lost the sun and thus was becoming discombobulated under the open water.</p><p>The pressure became too great, and, despite her struggle to keep it closed, Morgan's mouth opened, and she inhaled.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Her bed was super wet. For a single, horrifying moment, Morgan was genuinely concerned she had wet herself sometime in the night. Fortunately, the bed, and Morgan herself, was covered in sweat and not urine, and thus an odd mixture of happiness mixed with disgust washed over her. She, and the bed, would dry out over time, but all the same, Morgan was glad she didn't feel the need to sleep anymore.</p><p>A strange impulse wormed its way into Morgan's brain, and impulse that didn't go away even as Morgan checked her alarm clock and saw the time "3:46" shine back up at her in red numbers.</p><p>She wanted, really needed, to run. Not run away from the apartment, like Morgan had the day before, but just to run, to have her legs moving beneath her, to have her feet push against the ground, to feel the wind in what little hair Morgan had left. Morgan didn't know where this urge was coming from, but its influence was unstoppable.</p><p>Morgan didn't have "traditional" exercise clothing, heaven knew she couldn't afford anything new and she'd rather be dead than spend money on a used wearable specifically designed to sweat in, but she did have some shorts, a tight-ish bra she bought from a gas station for 4 dollars, and a long tight shirt that read "SWAG" across her rear end, and if that wasn't the perfect running outfit, what else would be?</p><p>The human changed quickly and made her way downstairs before a more logical part of her brain could stop her. Though the night sky was an expansive darkness, there were multiple street lamps to illuminate the early morning to Morgan's comfort. However, the late-night rains had brought in a thick fog that mostly obscured Morgan's field of view for more than a foot or so in front of her, but the desire to run drove her onward. It had gotten her this far, and it would carry her just a little further. </p><p>The idea, it seemed, was for Morgan to run forward, for as far she could, in a single direction, and once she had satisfied her compulsion, she would turn around and come right back. It was, essentially, the perfect plan.</p><p>Morgan started off towards the Squiggly-Wiggly and, about 30 seconds into the exercise, began to regret the decision immensely. Her thighs, calves, and feet were all crying out in pain simultaneously, apparently furious to be utilized in such a strenuous manner without being consulted first. Her breath was coming short, partly due to her complete lack of intense exercise in the last year or so and partly due to the damage done to her lungs. What breath was entering Morgan's lungs was not enough to keep her head from swimming, and her vision from waver. Even her shins, of all things, were beginning to sting, and she didn't even know that part of the body could be injured without an errant coffee table.</p><p>Despite the myriad of issues plaguing her, Morgan continued her trek, her run slowing to a jog, the jog becoming a brisk walk, then a low one. The urge to run had dissipated along with her physical energy, and now Morgan was starting to feel silly, walking towards a town she had yet to see the whole of because some random part of herself said "M-O-V-E F-A-S-T N-O-W."</p><p>Morgan's pathetic pace became a stillness as she sat on the ground and heaved violently, though nothing but air came from her stomach. Running was, to put it simply, a dumb ass idea. Any further impulses to do it again were going to be ignored, thoroughly, and completely.</p><p>The human was still trying to draw in as much oxygen as possible when she first saw "it." At first, "it" seemed to be a trick of the last, or perhaps the shadows, maybe a car passing by just out of her field of vision without its lights on or a person in dark clothing riding through the fog, but when Morgan turned her head to focus on "it," the shadowy shape just inside her peripheral vision, it didn't dissolve into a congruous, recognizable, form, nor did dissolve into the fog. It just seemed to sit there, as much as a car-Esque sized shadow could sit. </p><p>Morgan had just finished promising to herself that she would ignore the impulse to run forevermore but gave herself a concession to break that promise, just this one time. She stood slowly, keeping her eyes fixed on the shape, which remained still as she rose. A glance was stolen to look back to the apartment, which was mostly obscured by the fog, and when Morgan returned to look at the shape, she nearly jumped from her skin.</p><p>"It" had moved. Previously it had 100, maybe 150 feet from her, but it was definitely, oh so definitely, closer, close enough that Morgan could recognize what it was.</p><p>It was a wolf, except it was more the size of a horse than a dog. Its eyes were fully red, completely missing any sort of pupil or other structural eye things, and were level with Morgan's. Its snout was open slightly, and from the opening, Morgan could see rows of sharp teeth, dripping with black drool, bared at the much smaller human. It was crouched, it's body tight, almost like a coiled snake ready to pounce.</p><p>Morgan took a step backward, slowly, her eyes not leaving the monstrosity in front of her. The wolf stepped forward when Morgan took the third step and continued its movement every few steps she took. Finally, her instincts could take the delay no longer, and Morgan turned, sprinting back towards where she hoped the apartments were. The wolf snarled behind her, and if the thumping of the ground told her anything, the chase was on.</p><p>Morgan hadn't felt like she had run particularly far from the so-called "Pecan Bay Apartments," but every foot felt like a mile as she pushed her body to limits that might have killed her moments ago if it weren't for the adrenaline coursing its way through her bloodstream. Even with the extra boost within her, Morgan knew the wolf would easily gain on her. Anything with four legs built like a dump truck would have someone her-sized outpaced. Even so, Morgan continued her escape.</p><p>Running up a hill in Morgan's state was an encapsulation of hell, but cresting it could have made Morgan cry out in joy if she had the breath. The Pecan Bay Apartments' sign glimmered in the early morning, standing proud as a bastion of safety if the human could reach it. </p><p>The warm stink of feral breath reached Morgan's nose reminding Morgan of the danger, and, as the wolf snarled, the volume of the noise almost literally shook her bones. Morgan turned to see how close the wolf had gotten to her and-</p><p>Morgan, running at her fullest speed, impacted against something large, furry, and brown. She was knocked to the ground under the large "something," narrowly managing to tuck her head before it hit the ground as well.</p><p>The brown thing stepped over the human below it and turned itself to look down at her. Large greens eyes glared into Morgan's brown as the human found herself face to snout with another wolf, this one also abnormally large, but brown and shaggy, its face marked with deep, wide scars, its eyes rich with attention and intelligence.</p><p>"Mrrn?" The wolf growled a sound that Morgan had never heard a canine of any sort or size make before. It then proceeded to shake its head and growl softly before it bent its head back and howled into the early morning. In front of Morgan's widened eyes, the wolf began to shrink, slowly at first, but as time progressed, the pace of the transformation quickened. When the wolf was closer in size to Morgan, it also began to shift characteristically, its paws becoming hands and feet, its snout becoming a separate mouth and nose, and the hair that covered its body receding into itself until the only hair left on the wolf was on top of its head.</p><p>When the wolf, which had stopped being a wolf a few moments ago, finished its shrinking and transforming, the human left behind stood, and the familiar visage of Harald looked down, confused, at Morgan, who had a similar expression on her face. Thankfully, Harald was not naked, though he was wearing a sleeveless green spandex one piece that didn't leave much to the imagination, to Morgan's embarrassment.</p><p>"Wha'n the world are you doin' out so early, Morgan?" Harald's voice was strained.</p><p>"R--running" Morgan's breath was ragged, her voice even more strained than Harald's.</p><p>"Y' don't say?" Harald scratched the side of his face and shivered as a breeze of cool air rushed between the two. "What were you runnin' from?"</p><p>Morgan whipped around, terrified she'd see the giant black wolf, teeth still bared, drool still dripping, charging toward Harald and Morgan both…but no. The monstrosity that had chased Morgan into Harald had disappeared, the only remnants of its presence being the early morning fog and the lack of breath in Morgan's lungs.</p><p>"It, uh, it was a wolf…" Morgan explained as she turned back to Harald.</p><p>"A wolf?" Harald seemed a little incredulous for a man who was literally a wolf just a moment ago.</p><p>"Yeah, a big" Morgan stood on her toes and stretched her hands upwards to mimic the height of the wolf. "ass wolf. Little bit bigger than you were a second ago. Big red eyes. It was chasing me until I, uh, ran into you."</p><p>"Hmm," Harald grunted in response, looking past Morgan, trying to see what the human had seen. "Can't say I see a 'big ass wolf, 'side from me, course."</p><p>"Yeah…of course…" Morgan murmured as she stopped imitating the wolf and sat on the ground. "So, you can just, like, turn into a wolf? Whenever you want?"</p><p>"Mmhmm." Harald began to shiver. "To and from as I p-please."</p><p>"Don't need the full moon or anything?"</p><p>Harald laughed as he walked towards a random tree and retrieved a small backpack. In short order, the monster was dressed in an outfit similar to the one Morgan had first met him in. "Naw, nothin' like that. Just gotta think real hard 'bout it, and that's it. Never knew where yer kind got the moon thing from. Prolly the only time you were able to see my kind."</p><p>"Maybe so." Morgan looked back down the hill, thinking maybe, maybe, there would be some indication of where the wolf had gone, but any trace of the monster was obscured by the fog.</p><p>"Here," Harald called Morgan's attention to himself and was holding a jacket out to her. "You prolly need this much as I do. C'mon, I'll make sure you get home alright."</p><p>Morgan slipped on the jacket and followed Harald closely, making sure to check over her shoulder to see if red eyes or moving darkness would show themselves again, but they never returned.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Harald waved goodbye to Morgan as the human-made her way upstairs to the third floor. The stairs were the same obstacle they were before, made worse by the undue amount of Exercise she had been put through just a few moments ago. Regardless, Morgan still made it to her floor and her apartment door.</p><p>The loud sounds of clanking and clanging pots and utensils met Morgan as she entered her apartment. Martinez was standing at the oven, her hands skillfully turning sausage patties, spicing scrambled eggs, and picking up and thrashing a skillet full of potatoes.</p><p>"Morning Martinez," Morgan greeted Martinez as she walked into the kitchen and grabbed a glass from the cupboard. Martinez didn't react at first, her attention focused on her cooking, but as Morgan's voice registered with the dullahan, she turned.</p><p>"Morgan! You're up early."</p><p>Morgan shrugged. "I went for a run. Well, I tried, at least." She found an acceptable glass and filled it with water, drinking a large gulp of the tepid liquid. "Kinda ran out of steam really fast."</p><p>"Oh?" Martinez returned her attention to her cooking "Well, I'm sorry to hear that."</p><p>"Plus, I got chased by a big black wolf. That was odd. Harald walked me home, though, so it ended up okay."</p><p>"A big black wolf chased you?" Martinez turned back to Morgan. Even without her head, Morgan could imagine a shocked, or maybe just confused, look on the monster's face. "How, I mean, where…why?"</p><p>"I-I don't know!" Morgan threw her hands up. "I didn't think to ask why it was chasing me. I just ran!"</p><p>"Hmm," Once again, Martinez turned back to her cooking, putting the final touches on all the breakfast foods. "Are you sure you didn't just see Harald? He's pretty big when he's all…wolfed out."</p><p>Morgan shook her head. "He's big, but he doesn't have black fur. He's a pretty light brown."</p><p>"True, true…very true." Martinez trailed off as she began to move the cooked meal onto large plates. "Did Harald see the other wolf?"</p><p>"No…that's the thing." Morgan sighed. "Right after I, er, bumped into him, the damn thing just poofed away."</p><p>Martinez finished plating the large breakfast, comparable in size to the one she had cooked the morning before and moved it to the kitchen table not far from the stove. Morgan helped move a handful of the plates herself, and when Martinez picked up a plate and began to make her own plate of food, Morgan followed suit.</p><p>"I hate to ask Morgan," Seeing Martinez eat with no head was still an odd thing, considering it was less like eating and more like dropping food into a hole, but the accuracy Martinez maintained through her meals was honestly impressive. "But do you think it might have been another hallucination? Maybe stress from too much Exercise or something similar?"</p><p>That was the million-dollar question, and its implications worried Morgan just a tiny bit.</p><p>"My hallucinations don't usually contain black, red-eyed wolves. They're pretty mundane. Swirling colors and people shouting at me, mostly."</p><p>"To be fair, you did think me being headless was a hallucination, right?"</p><p>"Yeah, that is…true." Morgan spooned some eggs into her mouth and chewed slowly.</p><p>"I do know of a handful of wolf-like monsters in town, but none of them are black or have red eyes. I can't even think of a monster that would fit that description. Not off the top of my head, at least."</p><p>There was a moment of quiet, the only sound passing between the two women being the clattering of forks and spoons on ceramic plates.</p><p>"I-Is there a library? Here? In Jimton?" Morgan asked.</p><p>"A library? Yeah, a monster I know runs it. I see her almost every day after work. Why, do you want to visit?"</p><p>Morgan nodded, her mouth full.</p><p>"Well, alright. I'm scheduled to work today at 9:00, and I'll be leaving around 8:30. I can 'drop you off' at the library on the way if you'd like"</p><p>Morgan nodded again.</p><p>"Sounds like a plan to me, then. Uh, are you okay, Morgan?"</p><p>Morgan nodded a third time. Her mind had wandered, as it seemed to like to do, and speaking was a bit beyond her at the moment.</p><p>"I'm gonna be a while, though. It's gonna be a little while until I even need to start getting ready. You gonna take a nap?"</p><p>A shake of the head seemed to knock Morgan out of her stupor. "No, I'm really not feeling sleep right now, strangely. Feeling a little …what's the word? Wired, feeling a little wired."</p><p>"After what you saw, I can imagine." Martinez finished the last bite of her meal. Standing from the table, plate in hand, she placed her other hand on Morgan's shoulder and gave it a reassuring squeeze. "And hey, at least I finally have some help cleaning up."</p><p>Martinez washed the pots, pans, and utensils while Morgan dried and put the dishes away, all the while Morgan thought on the not monster from barely half an hour ago. Morgan hoped, to the deepest part of her, that it had all been some sort of fantasy, conjured up by the more damaged parts of her psyche, working overboard due to her impromptu mini-marathon, but the fear she felt, the roars, the very weight and presence of the beast itself…it all felt too real. It was too real. It had to be real.</p><p>The dishes done and the food put away for the other two roommates, one of whom Morgan had yet to even meet three days into living in the apartment, Martinez and Morgan sat in the living room. Across from where the monster and human sat was a small entertainment center, surrounded by DVDs, the likes of which Morgan neglected to read. In the center of the center was a TV Martinez had turned on when she sat down on the couch. The channel it was set to was playing an early morning infomercial wherein the host, a centaur with a brown and white coat, hocked a monster-friendly shampoo to be used by furry monsters to "Keep Your Coat Shiny…and Presentable!" Every few minutes, the product and presenter would change, a lion with a woman's head and large white wings described a vacuum that could lift any monster hair off of any surface "Lickety-Split!", a very short man with goat legs and horns jutting from his forehead stuttered through a pitch for a "horn growth pill," Based on the size of his horns, the pill probably didn't work, Morgan noted. </p><p>Infomercials became reruns of both human and monster centric television. Sitcoms about a human family adopting a young orphan monster, a monster family adopting a young orphan human, a children's show that explained different monsters types with a woman who appeared to be made of bark and had leaves and sticks for hair was the hostess. It was all astoundingly familiar and yet ridiculously foreign.</p><p>Morgan found the shows more intellectually engaging than they were probably meant for someone her age, essentially getting a crash course in Monster history from the comfort of a communal couch.</p><p>"Alright," Martinez had been furiously writing and organizing a large stack of papers from one side of their coffee table to the other, placing them inside of a large folder and slapping it down violently on the table. "Work time. I'm gonna jump in the shower and get dressed and, uh, you probably should too? Not to, uh, not to be offensive or anything, but sitting next to you here, I realized you…uh, I realized you haven't showered since you moved in…"</p><p>The words spoken by Martinez shot through Morgan like a cannonball. She sprung from the couch to her bedroom, grabbed a change of clothing, and ran back to the living room where Martinez was still sitting.</p><p>"Hey, so, uh, is it okay if I use the shower first?" Morgan asked, bouncing from foot to foot.</p><p>"Oh, please, go-" Martinez began, but Morgan was already in the bathroom, throwing her clothes off into a laundry basket next to the toilet. She had the water running over her full blast before it could be hot, but even as she shivered under the cold, Morgan washed herself dutifully, scrubbing away at body and hair with her dollar store body wash and shampoo.</p><p>The human stepped out of the shower just as the water began to get a comfortable temperature, not wanting to steal any heat from Martinez. She dried and dressed in short order, wearing an outfit similar to the day before, this time with a shirt that said, "Exercise? I Thought You Said Extra Fries!"</p><p>"Better?" Morgan asked Martinez, who was holding her own change of clothing.</p><p>"I really wouldn't know. I don't have a nose right now." Martinez shrugged as she walked into the bathroom and started the water.</p><p>The mechanics of the dullahan's senses when she was headless were so far beyond Morgan she didn't bother to think much about it.</p><p>A noise at the front door had Morgan turning from the bathroom door to the front. In walked Diya, the same, permanent smile on her face, but her eyes seemed tired, dark circles surrounding them. She was hunched over and holding her side, but when she saw Morgan, she stood up straight and smiled wide, though, beneath the grin, there was a touch of pain.</p><p>"Morgan," Diya's voice seemed a little strained. "You're up early."</p><p>"Yeah, I had some trouble sleeping, so, y' know, here I am."</p><p>Diya nodded as she walked to the kitchen, making herself a plate of food made of eggs and sausage. The food was consumed in a ravenous fashion, and Diya was going for seconds when Martinez emerged from the bathroom, wearing a similar outfit as the day before.</p><p>"Good morning Diya." Martinez walked to the living and gathered her things for the workday ahead. "You're up early."</p><p>"I'm in good company for it," Diya responded as she bit on a sausage. "Eva's not up, of course."</p><p>"Don't be rude, Diya," Martinez clicked her tongue as she admonished the taller monster and took her plate.</p><p>"Not rude. Just truthful…" Diya trailed off and looked at Morgan, then back to Martinez. "Thanks for the clothes, by the way. Not…quite to my taste, but I appreciate the gesture all the same."</p><p>Diya was dressed pretty sloppily, Morgan noted, more like herself than anything else she had seen the manananggal dress in before. Why or how she received the sweats and baggy, long-sleeved shirt from Martinez, Morgan didn't know.</p><p>"Well, next time, you can go to Bryan's and find some clothes your size for yourself."</p><p>Diya shook her head. "Not a complaint, Marty. I need to get going, though. I need to get some sleep myself. Good night Marty. Good night Morgan." With that, Diya stood and walked to her room. Just before she closed the door behind her, she turned and caught Morgan's eyes with her own. Diya winked to the human and shut the door to sleep the morning away. Seeing the manananggal in such pain was strange, to say the least, but Morgan wasn't sure if she was allowed to ask what the issue was.</p><p>It couldn't hurt to ask, she supposed.</p><p>"Is Diya okay?" Morgan asked aloud.</p><p>"Hmm… It's a little hard to explain to a human, to be honest. Not that you couldn't understand it. I think you'd be a lot more comfortable if Diya explained it to you."</p><p>So, her instincts were correct. Morgan would have to follow them when they were right. The trick would be to know when to listen and when to ignore them.</p><p>"Anyway, I'm ready if you're ready," Martinez stated as she opened the front door. "Ready?"</p><p>"Yeah. I'm ready."</p><p> </p><p>The walk to the central part of Jimton took Morgan and Martinez past the Squiggly-Wiggly, the sight of which caused an intense blush across the human's face. The day was much warmer than the last time Morgan had been outside, though a cool breeze kept her from overheating.</p><p>Martinez hadn't spoken since the two had left the apartment, and Morgan wasn't sure she preferred the silence or not, and thus she chose to say nothing as their walk continued. From afar, Morgan could see a collection of what looked to be a collection of shops that had a larger building in the center of the square. As they got closer, Morgan could pick out groups of people, of monsters, walking to and from the various places of business. It was quite the gamut of creatures, though, from this distance, Morgan had trouble picking out individual traits between each person. Diya had quoted 150 monsters, and it seemed like most of them were out and about this morning.</p><p>AS the seconds ticked by and the figures grew, Morgan's nervousness grew in tandem. She had only met a handful of monsters so far, and nearly every time had been somewhere between mildly painful to a complete disaster. Throwing herself into the town seemed like suicide, social or otherwise.</p><p>"Uh, Martinez?" Morgan spoke up. "Do you think I'll be okay in Jimton? Alone?"</p><p>"Mmm?" Martinez looked at Morgan. "How do you mean? Like, do you think you'll faint again? That's a question only you can answer."</p><p>"No, no. That's not what I meant." Morgan rubbed her chin. "I mean, are, are the monsters here going to be okay with, with me being around?"</p><p>"Morgan," Martinez's voice was firm but gentle. "I promise you, nothing will happen to you when we get to town. I know I was…aggressive when we first met, but everyone else here won't have that kind of reaction to you; that is, no one will react to you being human the same way I did. Do you trust me?"</p><p>Morgan wasn't 100% sure, but she definitely trusted Martinez more than she trusted herself. Regardless of her discomfort, she was sticking with Martinez.</p><p>The human couldn't help but gape as she and her dullahan companion entered the town square. There was such a variety of Monster entering and exiting storefronts, making conversation, and giving Martinez and her human roommate a pretty wide berth, that Morgan could hardly fathom it. A woman, with the head of a black and white spotted cow, looked at Morgan and sniffed in a way she assumed was derisively. A man with seashells, sea stars, and urchins in his hair and nearly translucent, shimmering blue skin ate a corn dog slathered in a thick black sauce. It was almost too much to take in if Morgan was 100% honest with herself. It was also striking to her that there were legitimately no humans around. Every person had at least one attribute that completely isolated them from the basic ideal of humanity. It was eye-opening, to say the least. Morgan did her best not to stare.</p><p>Martinez stopped in front of a red brick building, the color of which contrasted against the black coffee shop in its left and the white thrift shop on its right. Morgan took a mental note to visit the thrift shop the first opportunity she got. Above the large wooden door that led into the library, a makeshift sign made out of a piece of wood read "JIMTON PUBLIC LIBRARY," it's letters painted very haphazardly.</p><p>"Here you go, Morgan," Martinez pulled out her phone from her pocket and sighed. "Damn. Really thought I was gonna make it this time." she murmured as she placed her phone back into her pocket. "Just head on in, Esmeralda's friendly…enough. Are you planning on heading back on your own when you're finished, or are you going to wait for me?"</p><p>"I'm pretty sure I can make it on my own." Morgan nodded. "It's, like, a right then a straight shot up the hill."</p><p>Martinez gave Morgan a quick thumbs-up and jogged to the central building. Before she entered, the headless woman turned and whistled to Morgan, who turned from the door.</p><p>"Just a quick note! Don't ask to see her face!" Martinez yelled across the way. "Not a big deal, but I wouldn't recommend it! Okay, bye!"</p><p>With that, Martinez made her way inside, leaving a confused Morgan behind. Finding herself alone and having nowhere else to go, Morgan entered the library.</p><p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Chapter 5</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The wooden door was much heavier than Morgan expected, creaking almost ominously as she pushed it open. The library looked pretty small from the outside, but internally, it's set up was so that space was maximized. Books of every size and variety were stacked in the dozens of bookshelves that both lined the walls and were situated in multiple rows that made it difficult to see the full expanse of the library. The bookshelves that were against the walls are reached the ceiling, necessitating the use of a sliding ladder that was attached to the many bookshelves. Aside from its multitudinous shelves, most of the library seemed bare, with only a handful of small desks in the center of the building and a front desk where the librarian would probably be, though no one was sitting there, so Morgan continued in unabashed.</p><p>Morgan had a plan, of sorts. She needed to refresh, or it might be more apt to say reboot, her own brain to hopefully reclaim some of the knowledge regarding mythology and anomalous creatures. Her meeting with Margarita had managed to push some of that information to the forefront of her mind, but damn if it wasn't long gone at this point. Next time Morgan was to meet a monster, she wanted it to be on her terms, no screams, no fainting, nothing but genial, affable, amiable, all those words that just meant pleasant. </p><p>Taking a random book off the shelf, Morgan read the title. "War and Peace" by Leo Tolstoy. No, Morgan was pretty sure that book was of human origin, but, even as she put it back, she appreciated the fact a Monster library had books written by those not of their species. The next few books were of similar inception, but a book with the title "The Monster at the Beginning of this Book" caught the human's eye. Cracking it open eagerly, Morgan was dismayed to see the book seemed to be incredibly dense, with super tiny lettering and a forward that Morgan frankly had trouble understanding. With a soft sigh, Morgan placed the book back. This might take her a lot longer than she had anticipated.</p><p>"Need assistance, human?" A gravely voice made Morgan jump and spin around wildly. Already, Morgan had met a few monsters who were a couple of inches shorter than her, Martinez, for one, but the…person before her was absolutely tiny, to the point Morgan was sure she might have missed the monster if she hadn't made herself known. The monster was wearing a long for her, beautifully patterned black gown that was fairly ornate for what Morgan assumed was a librarian. Aside from the gown, the monster also wore black gloves that completely covered her hands and lower arms and, most unusually, a very long brimmed hat that had a veil wrapped around the brim that was so dark Morgan couldn't see any of their face.</p><p>"Oh, uh, yeah. Uh, my name is-"</p><p>"Morgan Orozco, are you." The small woman interrupted, "Yes, know you, I do. Talk of town, are you."</p><p>The monster's syntax was odd, but Morgan believed she could follow the pattern easily enough.</p><p>"I-I am?"</p><p>The woman cackled a laugh that ended in a hoarse cough. "Margarita and you. Interesting conversation have you, hmm? Screaming human lives in Jimton now."</p><p>Morgan could feel herself flush as she looked away from the monster. Everybody in town had been staring at her, but not just because she was human. It seemed like she was the new gossip among the townfolk. It wasn't a particularly pleasing thing to learn.</p><p>When the small monster finished another round of cackling, she shook her head. "Eh, but time for town gossip over. Here to read? Here to learn? How may Esmeralda help?'</p><p>"Well…" Morgan began, her voice soft. "I-I wanted to learn more about monsters and their history and stuff like that, I guess."</p><p>"Aaaah. Come to the perfect library, have you." Esmeralda reached forward to touch Morgan's arm. "Many great-"</p><p>The monster suddenly pulled back her hand back quickly, as if she was burned by the touch.</p><p>"Are you okay?" Morgan asked.</p><p>"Death." Esmeralda's voice, which, though low, had a friendly quality to it, despite the topic that had just been discussed. At that moment, however, it seemed devoid of anything but disquiet. "Touched by death, are you. To the grave were you. From the grave, you walked. Of flesh and bone are you no longer. Metal and spirit, in this realm, keep you."</p><p>"I, uh, what?" was Morgan's only response.</p><p>The trance that overcame Esmeralda broke, and she snapped back into herself.</p><p>"Ooh. Apologies to you, Ms. Orozco. In moment, lost myself."</p><p>"What exactly did you mean by, uh, all of that?"</p><p>"Nothing, promise you I. Just…to ghosts, things are known."</p><p>"Ghosts? Never mind that, I mean, what does touched by death mean? A-And metal and spirit keep me…in this realm?"</p><p>"Shh." Esmeralda placed her hand on Morgan's arm once more, this time not pulling away. "Nothing meant by me. Death touched is to be dead, then not. Is all that is meant by me. Is all I said."</p><p>"Oh, …ok."</p><p>"Come. Find your education, we will." Esmeralda released Morgan and walked, really more glided, down a shelf or two, Morgan not far behind her. Coming to a stop, the monster was suddenly lifted upwards by unknown means to a high shelf and grabbed a book that seemed comically large in her arms. Morgan found Esmeralda's floating strange, but not anything particularly off-putting, which was a good sign, in the human's eyes. </p><p>"Try this," Morgan took the book from Esmeralda's hands and gave it a once over. The title read "When Myth Became Truth," and, for the size of the book, it seemed fairly digestible, with multiple pictures and diagrams explaining things like the various types of monsters that now lived on Earth.</p><p>"Thank you, Ms, uh, Esmeralda. I hope this will be useful…to me."</p><p>"I as well," Esmeralda nodded. "If, in Jimton, live you, then learn of monster's ways, you must. To avoid…previous failings of past humans."</p><p>Esmeralda silently glided away, leaving Morgan to ruminate briefly on who it was that failed and how. Might it have something to do with the situation Harald had mentioned the day before? Perhaps something to do with humankind as a whole? Regardless, Morgan put a pin in that train of thought and got to work reinvigorating her brain, choosing to sit at a table in the center of the library while she read</p><p>As she had hoped, the reference book Esmeralda had given her was simple to follow and understand, explaining much of monster history before their move to what they called "The Over." Apparently, the reasoning for revealing themselves to humanity rested with fears regarding overpopulation in The Under. What land there was had been claimed in generations past and split into seven countries, each run by a particular race, and the war that had lead to the schism seemed to be brewing again.</p><p>One of the leaders of the seven nations, an Oni named Villaoni, established and worked towards a plan he believed could prevent a war between the so-called Undernations; reintegration with the Above. Through diplomacy and political cunning, Villaoni convinced three of the other seven leaders to vote yes to the reintegration, and messages to The Above were sent. Those who fought for the reintegration were Kayallan, the Vampire King, The Bellicose Queen, Villaoni himself, and the Dullahan Queen, Elizabeth O'Connell.</p><p>Strangely, "When Myth Became Truth," neglected to even identify the three monster leaders that voted no on Villaoni's plan. Morgan wasn't sure why.</p><p>As Morgan continued her studying, she noticed a handful of things. For one, Esmeralda floated basically everywhere, which made sense for how short she was. Back and forth, back and forth, she'd float to and fro from one end of the library to the other, silent as a moth landing on a flower. Also, every so often, another patron, always a monster, would enter the library, search the shelves, find a book or two or seven, see Morgan, and leave almost immediately afterward. It happened five times, and by the third time, Morgan could recognize the pattern.</p><p>"People don't seem to like seeing me very much," Morgan noted aloud as Esmeralda flew close by her. Esmeralda stopped in the air and landed softly in front of the table.</p><p>"Offense to you, they mean not. Human in Jimton, to them, is strange. On occasion, visitors have we. But to live? Very odd."</p><p>"Well, I didn't assume I wasn't an oddity here. It's gonna be a while until everybody gets used to seeing me around, I guess."</p><p>"Perhaps. On rocky foundation, is the human and monster relationship still."</p><p>"Really?" Esmeralda had caught Morgan's attention enough that she closed her book. "Why is that?"</p><p>"One moment," Esmeralda lifted into the air again. "Return, I will."</p><p>Indeed, Esmeralda did return, a pot of tea in one hand and two handleless cups in the other. She placed a cup in front of Morgan and filled it with the brewed liquid then poured one for herself before she sat opposite Morgan. After both the human and the monster had taken a sip, Esmeralda spoke again.</p><p>"A ghost, am I. Of your kind's years, I have lived, for many more, I will continue. Know humans, I do. Boorish, classless, scared is humanity. Against reintegration was I and always will be. To be hunted, to be fearful was humanity. When from the Under come we, humanity accepted our presence, it seems, but what acceptance can come when fear was previous memory? Remembered were we as myth, legends, stories, to scare children. When truth became known, and reintegration followed, the ways of monsters became Old Ways. In times of modernity, though, remember the Old Ways, do humans?"</p><p>"What exactly are the, uh, Old Ways?" Morgan asked as she took another sip of tea.</p><p>Esmeralda hummed for a moment. "Old Ways. Forbidden practices. For meat, the werewolves hunt. For the soul, the ghost hunts, for fear and emotion, and sustenance did many monsters hunt. No practice of Old Ways in new life. Separate from humans, most monsters are. A reminder of Old Ways are you. Reminder of times past."</p><p>"Oh…" Morgan didn't have much to say to that, really, what could she say, so she took another drink of tea. "So, it's not as simple as me being human. It's more to do with…what being human represents."</p><p>"Yes," Esmeralda answered plainly.</p><p>Morgan thought back to the morning run she had endured.</p><p>"M-Ms Esmeralda," Morgan's voice had dropped to a soft whisper. "I really hate to ask this, but do…do you think I'm in danger here, in Jimton?"</p><p>Her face obscured by her shroud, Esmeralda had no apparent reaction to the question. The silence between the human and ghost felt ominous to Morgan.</p><p>"In danger, you are not." Esmeralda finally answered. "Forbidden are the Old Ways. To intentionally harm and consume a human…incredibly bad. Great shame, it would be."</p><p>"Has it ever happened before?"</p><p>There was another moment of silence.</p><p>"No," Esmeralda shook her head.</p><p>"So, it'll never happen?"</p><p>"Hmm. Many questions, you ask. Worried, you seem."</p><p>"I mean, I feel like I have a right to be? I'm just worried that me being here in Jimton…maybe a monster would be willing to try and scare me off? Like in Scooby-Doo, y' know?"</p><p>Esmeralda laughed. "No no no, like Scooby-Doo, it is not. Scared of you, perhaps. Confused by your presence, yes. But to hurt you? No, no, no. Never, I would say."</p><p>The small monster seemed resolute, and, as she poured another glass of tea for Morgan and herself, Morgan tried to take Esmeralda's words to heart. The wolf from that morning must have been an intense hallucination, conjured up by her sleep and oxygen-deprived brain.</p><p>"So…" Morgan began, as her mind moved to a different but still on the topic subject. "Is there any way I can, like, make people like me more, at all? Or, at least, y' know, help monsters not being uncomfortable around me?"</p><p>"Fear of monsters you must not have. Through monster's eyes, you must look and see yourself. Comfort with monster form you must have, and comfort with you we will have."</p><p>That all made sense to Morgan, especially considering the whole Margarita situation the day before. </p><p>"Are there any monsters I could, um, start with? Like, those who might be more friendly towards humans?"</p><p>"Smile on you, fortune does. Live with them, you do. Of both worlds is Martinez O'Connell. Plus, like her, I do. Very sweet. Unusually comfortable with humans is Diya Rfran. If with you, they are, comfortable with you monsters will be."</p><p>Esmeralda was a gamut of good advice, it seemed. Along with the historical information she received through her book, Morgan would have to remember the monster's wisdom. Spending more time with Martinez and Diya wouldn't be the worst thing in the world. Far from it. </p><p>"Uh, Ms. Esmeralda?"</p><p>"Yes?"</p><p>"How do you feel about me? As a human?"</p><p>"Hmm. Like most humans, scared, you seem. Obvious with your intentions. Maybe a little silly. Is what I think."</p><p>"O-oh" Morgan was a little thrown off by Esmeralda's bluntness.</p><p>"But," Esmeralda interrupted Morgan's plunge into self-loathing. "Seeking understanding are you. In strange situation found yourself you have, but to give comfort to others is your goal. Admirable, this is. To live among your home, not against it, is your desire. Is not a bad thing."</p><p>"Oh," Morgan hadn't quite expected that.</p><p>"To know fear means no fear, yes?"</p><p>"Uh…yes?"</p><p>"Yes, good. Understand, you do."</p><p>Esmeralda took the cups and the kettle and floated up, but then floated back down.</p><p>"More questions, have you?"</p><p>"Uh, I can't say I do." Morgan shrugged.</p><p>"Truthfully?" Esmeralda seemed coy. "Questions about me? The monster I am? My face?" The small monster tapped a gloved finger to the table, making a remarkably loud rapping sound. "Curious, most humans are"</p><p>"I'm going to assume you're keeping it covered for one reason or another."</p><p>Esmeralda cackled again, which Morgan wasn't sure she was going to get used to.</p><p>"Good reason have I? Perhaps. Fearsome, my face is. To human…and some monsters."</p><p>Esmeralda turned again, then stopped again and turned to back.</p><p>"Take it back, I do, Morgan Orozco. Like you, I do, it seems. Welcome to my library you are, when seeking knowledge, are you."</p><p>The small monster flew away as a large smile plastered to Morgan's face. She continued to beam happily as she returned to her reading. Morgan had done it! She had managed to talk to a monster and not make a complete ass of herself. Even better, Esmeralda had been kind enough to invite her back whenever she wanted. There'd be at least one building in Jimton she could walk past without wanting to vomit.</p><p>After another hour or so had passed, Morgan put down the book, maybe halfway through, to rest her eyes when she was surprised to see Martinez by the entrance to the library talking to the little librarian. She was still wearing her outfit from before, though with her jacket slung over her shoulder, revealing her formidable, muscular figure. Morgan admired the dullahan for a moment, then forlornly looked at her own arms. Feeling dissatisfied with their size and shape, then and there, Morgan made a resolution to get them as close to Martinez's size as she could.</p><p>While the two monsters were too far for Morgan to hear their conversation, and really, she wouldn't have intentionally eavesdropped if she could have, but there seemed to be no shortage of affection between the two, as Martinez bent down and gave Esmeralda a hug and approached Morgan, who stood from her chair and pushed it back into place.</p><p>"I thought you said we'd meet at the apartment?" Morgan asked the smile from before still on her face.</p><p>"Eh. I got off a little earlier than my usual, so I figured I'd drop by and see my friend and see how you were doing. Find what you were looking for?"</p><p>"Yeah, I think I did." Morgan nodded. "But, uh, is the library closing? What time is it?"</p><p>"Library's open when Esme wakes up, and it's closed when she goes to bed, so you got, maybe, um, five minutes? C'mon, I'll walk you home. Don't want you getting chased by another giant wolf."</p><p>Morgan smirked as she followed Martinez to the door. Just before they exited the library, Esmeralda appeared next to the door, two books in her arms.</p><p>"Before you leave," Esmeralda handed the books out to Morgan "Take these. Your education, at home, continue it. History and Referential."</p><p>"Oh, thank you, Ms. Esmeralda!"</p><p>"When finished, are you, bring them back."</p><p>Morgan nodded and followed Martinez out the door.</p><p> </p><p>Walking back to Bluebonnet Trails seemed off to Morgan. While they had walked into town in relatively comfortable silence, their walk back seemed distinctly…not. Every time Morgan thought to make a comment or ask a question, something about the dullahan's body language, as the human understood it, had Morgan shutting up. Seeing Martinez on any sort of edge felt odd, to say the least.</p><p>As the duo walked up to the side entrance of the apartment building, the same one Morgan had originally met Harald, Martinez hesitated from opening the door and turned to Morgan, whose heart began to beat at a familiar, rapid pace.</p><p>"Can I ask you something, Morgan?" Martinez asked, her voice calm but firm.</p><p>"Of course, Marty," Morgan tried out Diya's nickname for their shared roommate in an attempt to relieve the tension then immediately decided to never use it again.</p><p>Martinez sighed as she rubbed the back of her neck. "You and Esme…if you don't mind me askin', but what exactly did y'all talk about?"</p><p>Morgan exhaled a breath she didn't realize she was holding. "Umm, little bit of everything, I guess. Why a lot of the monsters here seem to be 'on edge' when I'm around, me being human and all, y' know? B-but she did give me some advice on how to help people here be more comfortable with me around."</p><p>"Oh?" Martinez crossed her arms. "What did Esme recommend, exactly?"</p><p>"Mostly to be mindful of  <strong><b>why </b></strong> people are uncomfortable. Something to do with how monsters and how they used to…umm,"</p><p>"How we used to hunt humans?"</p><p>"Y-yeah, basically. She called it the Old Ways, or something similar to-"</p><p>Morgan was forced to silence when she felt Martinez's hands grasp her shoulders. Though Morgan had a few inches on the dullahan, at that moment, she felt very small.</p><p>"Morgan. Listen to me very carefully. Esmeralda….she means…well, heaven knows I have no idea what Esme was thinking talking to you about the Old Ways, but I'll assume she had good intentions. Be that as it may, monsters, we aren't meant to talk about the past. Not when it comes to…that sort of thing, and especially not with humans, no offense in any way. The days of monsters acting in such a, a, a shameful way are long, long over, and our living here, in the Over, is proof of that. If any…if there's any indication that a monster is even thinking of humans in a, in an Old Way context…the thought sickens me, and it would ruin the peace, the agreement we established. I don't want you to think there are people who see you in those terms. Do you…do you get what I mean?"</p><p>Morgan nodded, hoping she'd absorbed everything Martinez had just imparted to her. Her memory could be…tenuous at best sometimes, and there was a lot to be remembered today. Martinez released Morgan's shoulders and nodded back, visibly relaxing. </p><p>"Good. Good. Uh, I'm sorry for getting so grim about this, but I-"</p><p>"Don't worry about it, Martinez." Morgan offered a gentle smile. "I get it."</p><p>"Cool. Anyway, I'd, uh, let's get upstairs before I embarrass myself any further."</p><p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Chapter 6</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>A week had passed since the visit to the library. Morgan still had yet to meet Eva, the jorogumo being so busy with whatever her job was that she apparently never left her room, but Martinez reassured the human that she would come out in time. Morgan was sitting at her writing desk, reading over "When Myth Became Truth," particularly engrossed by the origin of ghosts (Not at all related to dead humans or souls, but instead were their own sort of monster species that reproduced same as any other; sexually) when a knock on her door diverted her focus.</p><p>"Come in," Morgan called to who she predicted was Diya and was happy to be proven correct. The manananggal took the time to visit at least once a day, and Morgan appreciated any sort of friendly attention.</p><p>"Hello." Diya seemed more exuberant than usual if that was at all possible. She made her way into the human's bedroom, her purse in hand, dressed in one of her signature outfits, her smile as large and sharp as ever. "We're going shopping today."</p><p>"Oh, uh, are we?" Morgan took a bookmark, really just a ripped piece of paper from a poorly written poem she had given up writing, and put it to save her spot. "Where are we going?"</p><p>"Bryan Zemo's thrift shop." Diya took her phone from her purse and took inventory of the time. "He's having a sale today, and we must be quick if we're to find things worth buying before the rest of the town manages to."</p><p>"Oh, yeah, sure. I like going thrifting anyway." Morgan stood quickly and followed Diya out of her bedroom and out the front door, hoping she could find something worthwhile in a monster run thrift store. She could only imagine the sorts of things that a town of Monsters would give away, especially clothes-wise.</p><p>A head stopped them on the second floor. Legitimately, a head was floating in the stairway, just next to the door that leads to the second-story apartments. It wasn't dead, that much was apparent, as its eyes, red in the irises and black in the sclera, looked to the monster and human. A small smile ran across its thin lips, and it floated closer, meeting the duo at Diya's eye level. From this angle, Morgan realized that the head was attached to a ridiculously long neck that snaked it's way back through the door. Aside from the odd length of the neck, the head and face connected to it were fairly normal. The monster had very sharp, angular features that were accentuated by subtle makeup, the strongest of which was winged eyeliner that made her eyes seem even more focused than they probably were. Their hair was black and cut into a short bob that moved as they moved closer to the manananggal.</p><p>"Good morning Diya," the head's voice was pleasant and husky, very similar to Diya's.</p><p>"Leticia," Diya drew out the last syllable of the other monster's name as she would often do. "It's nice to see you. I'd like to stay and chat, but-"</p><p>"Oh, you know you can call me Letty Diya, and please, indulge me," Leticia looked from Diya down to Morgan, who offered a smile back to the monster named Leticia. "I've yet to meet our newest member of the Jimton community. Morgan, I believe it was?"</p><p>Morgan stepped forward. "Yeah, that's me. Leticia, right?"</p><p>Leticia smiled a little wider. "Yes, indeed. Come on in! We'll finish the introductions with the rest of me,"</p><p>With that, Leticia slipped back inside, Morgan and Diya not far behind. In the hallway, Leticia's body sat at a chair in front, the incredible length of her neck slipping into her body, at least as far as Morgan could tell. Monsters had mechanics to the entirety of their being that the human had stopped trying to understand or explain, but seeing a neck devour itself was very odd, even for Jimton.</p><p>"So, how have you been enjoying our little town, Miss Morgan?" Leticia was much shorter than Morgan would have assumed, her feet barely touching the ground from her seat. "Diya here has told me she'd shown you a lot of it."</p><p>"Oh, um, well, it's pretty nice. Small, cozy. Still a couple of places I haven't been to yet." Morgan shrugged.</p><p>"If you haven't yet, I implore you to visit Bryan Zemo's thrift shop. He collects so many wonderful things from around here and A-Town. I bet if you asked Diya nicely enough," Leticia looked up to Diya and winked before looking back down to Morgan. "She'll take you."</p><p>"We were actually on our way there until-" Diys began, but was interrupted by Leticia clapping her hands.</p><p>"Good!" The long-necked monster giggled again. "I heard he's having one of his rare sales today. Go on now, get there before everything good gets taken!"</p><p>Diya turned and began to walk back to the stairwell when Leticia's head suddenly appeared before her and Morgan.</p><p>"Are you coming for tea Wednesday?" Leticia asked, the look on her face seeming a bit concerned.</p><p>"As I do every week, Leticia," Diya smiled wide. Leticia smiled back and nodded, her head returning to her body. Before Morgan walked through the door to the stairwell, she turned and waved goodbye to Leticia, who smiled sweetly and waved back.</p><p>The pair had made it outside with no further distractions when Diya suddenly sighed and shook her head.</p><p>"Hate that fucking bitch” Diya muttered, almost growling, more to herself than Morgan, though the human heard it all the same.</p><p>"Uuuuuuuh, excuse me?" Morgan asked, not sure she had heard the manananggal correctly.</p><p>"Hmm? Oh, I apologize, Morgan, I was just...thinking out loud." Diya waved her hand dismissively, as she seemed to want to do, and didn't explain further.</p><p>Morgan, of course, did not demand an explanation, though she sure as shit wanted it. Leticia seemed perfectly nice, very friendly monster. Though, to be fair, if Morgan hadn't become accustomed to Diya's particular brand of friendliness, she might have found the long-necked monster much stranger.</p><p>"Do you know what kind of monster Leticia is?" Morgan asked slowly, carefully.</p><p>"Rokurokubi," Diya answered plainly.</p><p>"Oh, that's cool," Morgan noted to herself to look up the term when she got back to the apartment. "So, umm, if you don't mind me asking-"</p><p>"You would like to know the nature of my disagreements with Leticia?" Diya interrupted.</p><p>"Well, yeah, a little bit,"</p><p>"Frankly, it's difficult to explain. A long, complicated tale that would take me far too long to elucidate. Just know what we attempt to keep up appearances, but there is very little love lost between us."</p><p>Again, Morgan was at a loss, but she decided to drop the line of questioning as they entered Jimton's square.</p><p>Something the human had noticed the more she spent time in the center of Jimton was that most of the businesses had a very ramshackle feel to them, as many of them had hand-painted signs to signify their name, their owner, and the type of business they were, the only exception being "The Bar", which had a sleek, light-up display above the door and a neon "Off" sign that was turned off in the window. Bryan Zemo's thrift shop, erroneously named "BZ's Thirst Shop," was no exception to the typical aesthetic of Jimton. Its sign was barely being attached to the building the store was located in.</p><p>A burst of warmth and the sweet smell of lavender air freshener wafted its way through the entrance as the bells on the door chimed as Diya and her human hanger-on walked inside. What Morgan first noticed about the store was there weren't nearly as many monsters there as Diya and Leticia had indicated there were going to be, but, all the same, Diya clicked her tongue and shook her head, disappointed.</p><p>The "thirst" shop didn't seem all that different to the ones Morgan had been to before, aside from being meticulously organized, especially for a store where most went to drop off their random crap. A centaur, Morgan had, coincidentally, left off on the chapter about the half-horse monsters, sat behind a counter by the front, the eponymous Bryan Zemo, reading a book that he didn't look up from even as Diya and Morgan walked past him.</p><p>A good portion of the store was dedicated to clothing, as was the case with most thrift stores, much of which was designed for humanoids, though there were specific areas with signs that said things like "Naga," "Mermaid" and "Wings," though the most popular was apparently "Centaur," considering the size of the section. Upon a glance, centaur outfits seemed to consist mostly of long-sleeved shirts, vests, and very, very wide and long skirts that Morgan could wear as a ballgown.</p><p>Diya was already perusing the shelves, her mouth, as always, pulled into a taut smile, but her eyes were fierce and determined as they scanned the most substantial pieces, scrutinizing them with a professional air about her. In Morgan's opinion, it was kind of cute and a little compelling to see Diya so serious. Morgan didn't give her clothing anywhere near the same amount of perusal, as was probably apparent to an outside observer; however, she was able to find three shirts in her size, all of which had a cheeky slogan or saying on it.</p><p>"Uh, Diya?" Morgan called out to her companion, who was comparing the color and fabric of two, particularly striking pieces.</p><p>"Yes, Morgan?" Even the manananggal's voice had more of an edge to it as she continued her "investigation," as it were.</p><p>"Can I, er, can I get your advice? Fashion…advice?" Morgan held up two of the three shirts. Diya turned and, nearly immediately, her face betrayed her distaste for their designs.</p><p>"They are, quite honestly, hideous," Diya stared down at the shirt. "I wouldn't be caught dead in shirts such as those."</p><p>"Yikes, tell me how you really feel," Morgan laughed a bit to herself, a little embarrassed. "I-I don't know. I like them"</p><p>"I never said you couldn't or shouldn't Morgan." Diya lips twitched. "I just personally wouldn't choose those clothes for myself."</p><p>"Oh, well, I think, uh, I guess that in itself says you think they're ugly," Morgan responded as she lowered the shirts from Diya's gaze.</p><p>Diya cocked her head to the side slightly, the middle of her lips twitching upwards again. Looking at Diya from a distance with that particular expression on the monster's face, Morgan was confused as to what precisely it meant.</p><p>"Perish the thought, Morgan," Diya shook her head slowly. "The manner in which you dress is an expression of you. If you enjoy wearing the type of clothing you do, who am I to tell you otherwise?"</p><p>"I don't know Diya," Morgan turned from the monster, then turned back to look at Diya over her shoulder. "Sometimes, it feels like you're just being mean."</p><p>That seemed to quiet Diya, as she turned away from the human and didn't say anything further. Morgan was worried she had managed to offend the taller woman; nonetheless, she moved from the shirts and found some acceptable jeans that, when the human tried them on in the changing room, hugged her hips more comfortably than the pairs she had been wearing when she first moved to Jimton. Had Morgan gained that much weight in just a week? The human certainly hoped so.</p><p>Her clothing situation solved, Morgan moved to the back and looked at the various knick-knacks that could be found carefully placed on the many shelves and cases that made up much of the thrift shop. There was a particular shelf covered in interesting VHS and DVDs that were intriguing to the human, especially those centered around Monsterkind, but it was the books next to it that truly caught Morgan's attention.</p><p>There weren't all that many books, maybe nine or ten, but they were all unique in her hands feeling pleasant in her hands. The title of the book was in a language Morgan couldn't read or even identify, but some of the writing inside the book was English, though they were formatted in clumsy, almost illiterate sentences</p><p>Regardless, the book seemed the right way to start a new collection, and Morgan could remember having a small reading collection wherever she had lived before her accident. She took the book and her clothes up to the centaur behind the counter, who still had his very dark nose pressed into his book.</p><p>"Uh, just these, please." Morgan laid her items on the counter.</p><p>Bryan looked up and, apparently, seeing Morgan for the first time since she came in, dropped his book onto the floor and scrambled up, a frightening movement considering how large a man that was connected to a horse was.</p><p>"HI!" He nearly screamed. "Hi! Hi, um, hello. I'm Bryan Zemo. I own..uh, sorry…uh, I own this thrift shop. H-How can I help you?"</p><p>"Uh, just these…please?" Morgan gestured to the counter's items, flabbergasted there was someone in Jimton, Texas that was more awkward than herself. Something about that fact made her a tiny bit happy, Morgan realized.</p><p>"Okay, cool!!" Bryan laughed nervously, his voice barely contained by the walls. "Let me see, um, three pairs of pants, very nice, and umm" the store owner went silent as he looked at the shirts. "three shirts…Oh, and a book! Umm, well, while the shirts and jeans are only going to be three and two dollars each, respectively, but, umm, this book is going to have to be twenty. Books aren't covered by the discount, you see, mostly cause they're still very rare, even though we've been around for, gosh, twenty five-ish years and I think…oh, I-I'm sorry, I'm being rude."</p><p>Morgan, who had focused more of her attention at the crumpled twenty dollar bill in her wallet, looked up at the monster behind the counter, who looked like he was seconds away from crying and shook her head.</p><p>"Oh, no, no, no, you're fine. I'll just, uh, I'll just get the book later." Morgan attempted a gentle smile at the centaur, the same way Martinez did.</p><p>"Oh…ok. I'm very sorry…" Bryan trailed off as he took the book and put it under the counter. "I can hold it for you want?"</p><p>"It's fine, I promise." Morgan reached into her wallet and retrieved her last bill, holding it out for the centaur to take, who seemed calmed by the sight of money. "15, right?"</p><p>"Yeah, 15 dollars," Bryan confirmed as he took the money. "Oh, you're uh, you're Morgan, right?"</p><p>"That's me!" Morgan tried to seem cheerful as the last bit of her money was taken from her. It was a necessary thing, she really needed new-ish clothes, but she was going to have to get some more from her account, and the last time she had done that, the numbers left behind didn't tell a happy story.</p><p>"Well, it's very nice to put a, uh, name to a face! I'm Bryan Zemo. I, uh, I mentioned that before." The centaur laughed again. "But, umm, here's your change! Five dollarydoos…heh."</p><p>God, if Morgan suddenly sprouted a lower horse half, she'd practically be looking into a metaphorical mirror. Bryan folded up the jeans and the shirts gracefully with a well-rehearsed movement and placed them in a bag before handing them to the human across from him.</p><p>"Here you go! Umm, come see us again, or, well, me again, I'm always here, heh." Bryan waved to Morgan before he sat back down and picked up his book. Morgan noticed its cover was that of a black-haired centaur man with a black and white coat pattern being hugged and ridden by a dark-skinned human woman. The book's intent, considering its sensual nature of the cover and the title "To Love A Stallion," seemed evident enough.</p><p>Morgan had some firsthand experience with the more negative feelings between humans and monsters, but the idea of a romance between the two species was foreign to the human. The only couples she had seen in Jimton were monster/monster of varying types.</p><p>This random piece of information notwithstanding, Morgan walked with her bags to the door, taking a moment to look back at Diya, who was heading towards the counter, an extensive collection of clothing in her arms, startling Bryan out of his concentration.</p><p>Outside was much warmer than it had been when Morgan and Diya arrived, though a gust of Autumn air reminded the human how close it was to being uncomfortable. The soft chime of the thrift shop door being opened had Morgan turning from the street to see her roommate ducking the doorway to exit.</p><p>"Another successful shopping trip complete." Diya had three bags stuffed to nearly bursting with randomly colored clothing that seemed to have very little rhyme or reason to any of them.</p><p>"I'm surprised you found anything in your size," Morgan stated.</p><p>"I very rarely find anything that I can just pull off a hanger and wear comfortably,"</p><p>"What's all that?" Morgan pointed to the bulging bags.</p><p>"Raw material," Diya smiled. "With proportions such as mine, it was evident I had to either modify existing clothing or entirely create my wardrobe wholesale, such as it is."</p><p>"That's pretty cool. I couldn't imagine having to make up all the slogans for my cool ass shirts." Morgan jabbed a bit at Diya. The manananggal seemed unfazed by the remark as she pulled her phone from her purse.</p><p>"Yes, well, you're more than clever enough to come up with such…remarkable statements, in my opinion, Ms. Orozco." Diya put her phone back and flashed a toothy smile at the human. "Coffee?"</p><p>"Hmm?"</p><p>"The perfect post successful shopping trip treat is coffee," Diya said everything as though she were telling her conversation partner a well known fact they were just now being exposed to, and, while Morgan generally liked her confidence, it sometimes felt as though the manananggal were talking down to her. "I was just planning on visiting my friend Curry. He owns a coffee shop, and I was curious if you would like to come as well."</p><p>"Uh, sure. Can we stop by the ATM first? I gotta get some cash."</p><p>Diya, of course, said of course, and thus Morgan made her way to one of the two ATMs located in the small community of monsters. This particular one was wedged between a never used phone booth and a trash can not too far from the library; the other was in the Squiggly-Wiggly, a place Morgan had still yet to return to, as embarrassment kept burning a hole into her as she passed it nearly daily.</p><p>The number that shone on the ancient cash machine wasn't a friendly one, Morgan's heart nearly stopping when she saw it. She had enough to pay this upcoming month's rent, but the settlement money she had received from the accident was almost at its end, it seemed.</p><p>"I don't think I'll be able to join you for coffee Diya," Morgan hit the cancel button on the ATM.</p><p>"Why is that, Ms. Orozco?"</p><p>"Well, frankly, I don't really have any money. Not enough for fancy coffee, anyway." The human softly sighed. "I need a job." she murmured to herself.</p><p>"Don't you worry your pretty little head," Diya pat Morgan's head. "I'll cover the cost of coffee today. You can pay me back with your companionship."</p><p>"Oh, umm, okay," Morgan gently pushed Diya's hand from her head and followed as the manananggal turned on her heels and walked towards their next destination. Diya was a sweet woman with a lot of friendliness and affection, and heaven knew Morgan enjoyed her time with her, but sometimes it just all seemed like too much, especially with that moment of abrasiveness between them. Morgan hoped she'd return to feeling normal soon and that Diya didn't feel as strange as she did.</p><p>The interior of the monster named Curry's coffee shop was surprisingly modern, giving a friendlier sort of appearance than most of the other stores' Morgan had visited. There were several monsters there enjoying coffee and pastries; some Morgan could recognize from her other visits to the central part of town, though there were one in particular who stood out among the rest. She was sitting at a table by the front door; an amazingly beautiful red-skinned woman wearing a serious-looking business suit that matched the countenance of her face, a sharp, angular face that had a large purple splotch that covered up much of its right side. Her hair, a darker red than her skin, was long and tied into a braid that she laid over her right shoulder. Whomever this monster was, she had a professional air about her that was extremely intimidating.</p><p>"Come along, Ms. Orozco," Diya was already at the counter, facing down at a monster with ashen skin, long black hair, and a horse face, that is to say, his face was that of a horse's, what with a long snout, very dark eyes, and short pointed ears that moved about constantly. Morgan turned from the couple she had been looking at for the moment and joined her monster roommate at the counter.</p><p>"Ohohoho," the horseman laughed when Morgan approached closer. He was wearing a long-sleeved shirt covered by a black apron, though neither did anything to hide just how ridiculously ripped the monster was. "This is Morgan? The 'terror' of little Jimton?"</p><p>"Terror?" Morgan turned and looked at Diya, who shrugged.</p><p>"Terror's maybe not the word," The monster chuckled, the vocalization coming out somewhat like a whinny, which seemed appropriate. "What can I get you, darlings?"</p><p>Morgan looked past the monster to see the menu behind him. The various kinds of coffee available were written on a large board that took up much of the wall, each other type in a different color of chalk. Morgan used to drink coffee a lot; she could remember that pretty well. A cup of coffee in the morning, a cup in the afternoon, around 2, and a final one so she could make it through the night. Why precisely Morgan needed to keep herself up so late was unknown, but she figured it had to be important, at least back then. Right then, something sweet called to her.</p><p>"Uh, a caramel macchiato?" She requested softly.</p><p>"Ah, an eye for the bold and brash," The monster turned to work on the espresso machine when he turned back and looked at Diya.</p><p>"Aren't you going to introduce us?" He asked, an overage of faux hurt in his voice.</p><p>"What more do you need? Your name's on the building, and you already know Morgan's name." Diya responded, her voice dripping with sarcasm.</p><p>"Hmmph," the man looked from Diya to Morgan. "I suppose Diya has a point. I'm Peter Curry, the only monster here with any sort of manners, it seems. Don't worry, your head none Ms. Morgan, we're all friends here. You still have to pay full price, but I got bills to pay, you understand."</p><p>"Yeah, you aren't kidding," Morgan murmured under her breath.</p><p>"You want your regular Dee?" With practiced ease, Peter turned and began to make Morgan's order, not looking at Diya as he asked his question.</p><p>"Please," Diya responded, tilting her head down in a small bow before turning and walking to an empty table in the back close to the bathrooms, Morgan following her.</p><p>"So…Peter." Morgan asked as she sat down. "What is he?"</p><p>"I believe the name of his species is Tikbalang if I recall correctly," Diya's phone chirped, and she looked it over. "Oh, that's unfortunate." She said aloud, though still quiet.</p><p>"What's up?" Morgan asked, her nosiness overtaking her sense of appropriateness. Before Diya could answer, a figure was suddenly in a seat next to Morgan, causing the human to spin to see who it was.</p><p>It was a woman with a round face, freckles that ran from her chin to her forehead, and intense blue eyes. Her hair was cut into a mohawk, dyed red, that wasn't currently up, instead drooping down, laying against the shaved portion of her head. She was dressed in a large, fluffy jacket that seemed far too warm, even in the weather ravaging the small town. Most interestingly, she had several stripes of yellow and black that ran down vertically from her bottom lip to her chin.</p><p>"Well, look who it is!" the woman looked over at Diya, a wry smile on her face, the barest sight of her teeth, incredibly thin and black, meeting Morgan's eyes for a moment before moving on to Diya's. "Fancy seeing you out and about at Peter's. Isn't it a Friday? Shouldn't you be out at with Ryan? Or is it Marlena now?"</p><p>Diya's eyes thinned, and her mouth curled upwards as she looked at the woman.</p><p>"Marlena and I decided to end our relationship in a very amicable manner, thank you very much, Eva." Diya pronounced Eva's name with a long "e."</p><p>"Ah, well, you go through them so fast, I can never keep up. Could've sworn there was an Antonio not too long ago, but y' know," Eva leaned back in her chair and put her hands in her pockets before she turned to Morgan and nodded upwards at her. "Can't keep up with everything. Hey, I'm EH-VA" Eva pronounced her name with a short "e" sound. "Eva Peyton. I basically run this tiny little town,"</p><p>"Oh, uh, I actually know about you. A little bit, at least," Morgan nodded.</p><p>"Aww, Diya," Eva put her hand on her chest and mockingly looked sad at the manananggal. "Have you been talking about me to your new gal pal? You're so sentimental."</p><p>"Morgan and I are in no way linked romantically. We are merely roommates, out to enjoy the day and each other's company, "Diya stated.</p><p>"Oh shit, for real?" Eva straightened up and smiled sheepishly as Morgan. "Sorry dude didn't know. When'd you move in?"</p><p>"Uh, about a week ago?" Morgan had a little trouble remembering. That probably wasn't good.</p><p>"And I haven't seen you in all that time. What a tragedy." Eva clicked her tongue and shook her head. "Keeping our new friend away from me, Diya? That's fucked up."</p><p>"You're the one locked in her room for weeks" Diya crossed her legs and placed her hands in her lap. "You'd think you'd have heard about her moving in on that computer of yours,"</p><p>"You act as though everybody in town not named Rfran has a twitter" Eva stuck her tongue out at Diya. "So, where you from Morgan? You born Above or Below?"</p><p>"Umm…above, I guess?"</p><p>"Oh damn, nice. I was born Under but moved up here when I was, like, 3ish. What was it like, growing up in the Over?"</p><p>"I-I can't really say much. I'm not…My memories not great?"</p><p>"Ah, sorry, dude. It's all good, though. I'm sure your whole thing will come back." Eva put her feet up on the table, revealing a pair of bright pink and red boots covered in purple hearts. "If not, hey, Jimton's not the worst place to chill out. Maybe, like, the second worst."</p><p>"Eva, don't be rude," Diya admonished Eva.</p><p>"Hey, you can't tell me what to do anymore," Eva wagged her finger at Diya. "As much as you still try."</p><p>Morgan had felt a little awkward once Eva had sat at her and Diya's table, but there was energy going on between them that she felt she shouldn't know about and that they were trying very poorly to hide from Morgan. Whatever it was, Morgan wasn't a fan.</p><p>"So, uh, Eva," Morgan interrupted whatever Diya was planning on saying in response to the spider demon. "What exactly is it that you do around here?"</p><p>"Well," Eva began "Most monster's in the Over are a little …what's the word Diya?"</p><p>"Frightened,"</p><p>"Yeah, they fucking hate technology. Think it's, like, evil or something, I don't fucking know. Me on the other hand, I took a shine to that shit the moment I fucking put my hands on a keyboard. Most businesses here need help with taxes and finances and shit, even the fucking Mayor's office. That's where I come in. You need someone to keep shit level online, that's all up to me."</p><p>"Oh, that's really really cool, Eva," Morgan smiled at Eva, who gave her a small grin back.</p><p>"Yeah, don't let me lie to you, it's actually pretty fucking boring most days, not gonna lie, but I get paid well to sit on my ass all do and do something I can do in my sleep, so, can I complain? I mean, maybe I shouldn't, but I definitely do. How about you, Morgan? You got a job around here?"</p><p>"Ugh!" Morgan vocalized her frustrations louder than she had meant, but the music over the loudspeakers drowned much of it. "No, but I kind of need one. Can't rely on my settlement money forever, especially when it's all gone."</p><p>"Settlement money? That sounds like a story,"</p><p>"I mean, it's a story, but not a great one. But yeah, I need a job ASAP."</p><p>"Y'know what? I think I can help actually fucking help with that." Eva pulled out a notebook from the inside of her jacket and flipped through it. When she found the page she was looking for, she turned the book to Morgan. "Try Freddie Blair's Diner. One of his waiters quit kinda outta nowhere, and apparently he's desperate."</p><p>"Oh shit," Morgan looked the page over. "Is it close by? I don't have a car or anything,"</p><p>"Ha! Nobody's got a car here except Martinez, and she never drives the damn thing unless we go to A-Town. Naw, it's, like, right past the square, past the bookstore. Freddie's a bit rough, but almost all Yokai are."</p><p>"Eva!" Diya cut in. "You can't say things like that, especially not in public."</p><p>"What? We're from the same line, basically. Anyway, go see him about a job."</p><p>"What's the pay like?" Morgan asked.</p><p>"Fucking I don't know," Eva shrugged. "But he does pay. I know that much. Oh, shit, I gotta get going. I have a fucking thing I have to get to, but I just had to stop by and visit my favorite monster." Eva stood from the table and nodded at Morgan. "Nice to meet you, Morgan. Hope I see you again before I gotta plug back in. See you."</p><p>"Goodbye, Eva" Diya smiled at the spider demon, who flipped the manananggal off and gave her a wink. When Eva was gone, Peter suddenly appeared, the two ordered drinks in his hand.</p><p>"Oof, how'd it go?" Peter asked as he placed the coffees in front of the human and the monster.</p><p>"Peter, I don't understand why you think something's going to go wrong when Eva and I see each other." Diya took the drink and took a sip. "It's been nearly three years."</p><p>"You know I'm a worrier." Peter shrugged. "How about you, Morgan? How're you doing?'</p><p>"Uh, I have no fucking idea what's going on," Morgan stated frankly. That wasn't 100% true. She had more than an inkling of what was going on between Eva and Diya, but she didn't care much to comment on it, considering it didn't seem like her business. "I have a lead on a job, though, so… I'm pretty good?"</p><p>"Oh, that's great!" Peter smiled, an unusual expression on a man that was a horse. "Well, as long as you two are okay, I'm going to go back and actually run this place."</p><p>Peter was gone, back behind the counter. It was just Morgan and Diya again. They sat there, enjoying their coffee, though Morgan found hers more bitter than sweet, which was disappointing.</p><p>"I'm sorry, Morgan." the manananggal suddenly spoke. Morgan looked up from the table and saw Diya looking directly down at her, her eyes catching her in their yellow light again. "Today has been very…stress filled, and I should have disengaged more, for your sake."</p><p>"Oh, no, hey, it's fine. I'm not here to, y' know, judge or anything. Just an observer." Morgan finished her coffee, finding that much of the flavor had been trapped at the bottom of the cup.</p><p>"No, you're as much a member of our community as I am, and you should feel welcome."</p><p>"I do! Uh, sometimes. I just need to get used to everything, that's all. Oh, and I'm sorry for calling you mean. That was…mean of me, really."</p><p>Diya shook her head. "No, you were correct. My words and my actions were incredibly unbecoming. I tend to speak my mind when it may be best to stay silent. I have created…complicated relationships because of it."</p><p>"Is there anyone you don't have a complicated relationship with, Diya?" Morgan asked, not intending to be sarcastic.</p><p>Diya was silent for a moment before responding.</p><p>"I suppose just you, Ms. Orozco.</p><p>"You really can just call me Morgan, Diya."</p><p>Diya nodded and smiled. "Ah, that's right. Morgan."</p><p>The pair cleaned up their tables and headed out to Jimton once again, bags in tow. Before Morgan could leave out the door, the red monster by the door caught the human's eyes with her own. Before Morgan could turn her eyes away, the red monster smiled small, took a sip of her coffee, and winked at Morgan in a quick moment. Morgan smiled back before rushing out the door, just behind Diya.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Hey y'all, it's Amelia! Thanks for making it this far into Jimton, Texas! I super super super appreciate the time you've taken to get to this point! If you liked our little Rokurokubi friend Leticia and want to know how Diya and her met, check out my side story Call Her Letty, linked below!</p><p>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25855939</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. Chapter 7</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Diya had decided to head straight back to the apartment, kindly offering to take Morgan's bags back up with her, which was an offer that Morgan gratefully took her up on. Finding Freddie Blair's Diner wasn't particularly difficult, it was just a block or two from Jimton's inner square, but the down run condition of the restaurant from the outside had Morgan hesitate before she remembered nearly everything in Jimton was in the same state of relative disrepair, at least from the outside.</p><p>Internally, the diner was pretty small, with the chef's station and register taking up much of the building's right-hand side, with assorted tables and booths making up much of the rest of the building. There were a few monsters here and there, a very short man sitting at a table, his entire face and body nearly entirely covered in hair, the only part of him not obfuscated being his eyes, nose, pointed ears, and arms, a pale woman with deep-set, gaunt eyes wearing a surgical mask who moved it off her face to eat off of a plate of pancakes, a group of short green-skinned, beaked beings who had divots on the top of their heads that were filled with water.</p><p>Most striking was the cook of the diner, a behemoth of a man, what with red skin, large, white, bushy eyebrows, a balding head with white hair that was still long enough to pull into a ponytail, a long, round nose that was impossibly long, and an unkempt mustache that still retained a small touch of color. On his back where a pair of little wings with black feathers that would flap as the man took the food from the chef's station to the table from where it had been ordered.</p><p>When the man noticed Morgan standing by the door, he nodded in her direction.</p><p>"Pick a table." He gruffly commanded with little warmth. "Front's non-smoking, back is."</p><p>Morgan did as she was told, sitting down and looking over the menus that were left by the napkin holders and salt and pepper shakers on the table. She wasn't particularly hungry, especially not with a belly full of coffee and the stale stank of smell of cigarettes overcoming that of the eggs and bacon being served, but she might as well give it a look over. Steak and eggs being on 7.99 seemed unsustainable, but what did Morgan know? She wasn't a business manager.</p><p>Business manager. Why did that feel familiar? Not just that she knew those words in combination and singularly, but them, their definition, it applied to her in some way, but how? Business manager. Business manager. Business manager. There was something there, hidden by the all too familiar fog that was clouding up much of her past. She didn't explore that part of herself often, for fear of getting lost within her thoughts, but something, something, was pulling her into it. Something she couldn't remember or recognize but familiar all the same. What was it? Where did it come from? Where was it going? How could she find it?</p><p>"Hey!' The cook was by her table, a small notebook in his hand, a scowl on his heavily lined face. "You looking to order some food or you just gonna sit and gawk, cause you gotta order at least a cup of coffee for that,"</p><p>"Uh," Morgan's mind was in ribbons, and she was desperately trying to pick the pieces up as this giant red monster looked down at her. "I've already had coffee today."</p><p>"Alright, no coffee then. I can't charge for water. You need an omelet? A steak? A fucking brownie?"</p><p>"Uh-uh, a job. I'm here for a job" Morgan managed to push the square peg straight through the circle hole.</p><p>"We don't have 'job' on the menu, human. Plus, Freddie don't just give jobs away to random strays off the street. You have a resume, maybe? A reference?"</p><p>'E-Eva told me you were looking for a waiter? Or a waitress, I guess?"</p><p>"Eva?" Freddie Blair thought for a moment, his eyes closed and his hand on his chin. "Oh! The demon with the computer. Ah, okay, yeah. I can work with that."</p><p>The man sat the table on the other side of Morgan and ripped the top piece of paper from the notebook. He wrote something down before looking up at Morgan.</p><p>"Name?" he asked.</p><p>"Morgan Orozco," Morgan answered.</p><p>"Okay, and have you ever worked customer service?"</p><p>"M-Maybe?" Morgan said sheepishly.</p><p>"What, you don't remember working with customers before?" Freddie stopped his writing and looked up at the human, who couldn't get the hangdog look off her face.</p><p>"Uh, this might sound a little unbelievable, but I lost a lot of my memory, and I can't tell you with one hundred percent certainty that I have worked with customers before."</p><p>"Not that unbelievable," the monster didn't look back up from his notebook. "Trust me. You live in the Under long enough, you hear some of the dumbest…Anyway, when can you start?"</p><p>"Are, are you giving me the job?" Morgan asked.</p><p>"Yeah, I might as well. Position's been open for about a month, and no one's been desperate enough to come in and ask for it, so you have it if you want it. I won't lie to you, I don't pay much, but you get to keep all your tips, and you get all the free coffee you want. It's not Curry's shit, but it'll put some fluff on your wings."</p><p>"Uh, yeah. Yeah, I'll take the job! Uh, I can start whenever you, uh, whenever you need me," Morgan stood up from her seat quick, her head swimming with the movement.</p><p>"Cool, cool. Why not come back around, hmm, next Wednesday. I'll get the paperwork and everything together by them, and you can have some time to get ready."</p><p>As Morgan walked back to Pecan Bay Apartments, the relative ease she got her new gig concerned the human a little. She didn't have any idea if she had worked something like waiting or the like, and it was hard to say where a business owner like Freddie Blair's charity came from. Morgan sometimes felt very vulnerable in Jimton, especially when she was alone, which wasn't often. Even discounting the intense hallucination from a week ago, sometimes Morgan could feel unfriendly eyes on her, watching her as she moved about in the small community of monsters. Aside from Adrian, and maybe some others she hadn't interacted with one on one, nobody seemed too angry at her presence. More like unnerved or apprehensive.</p><p>Making her way up the steps to her apartment building, keys in hand, Morgan passed Harald and Adrian, both of whom were dressed nicer than she had seen them dress before; Harald wearing a sweater vest and slacks and Adrian wearing skinny jeans and a large jean jacket that just barely managed its way around the harpy's wings. Harald gave her a small, friendly wave that the human returned while Adrian delivered a glower that she chose to respond to with a soft smile if anything just to piss off the small birdman that little more.</p><p>Continuing her trek, Morgan, in the stairwell, stopped at the second floor for a moment to sit at the top step to gain her air and bearings back. The day's exercise was beginning to drain her, and, for as much as she enjoyed Diya's company, the manananggal had her out and about far past when the human felt she should be. Her strength would come back to her, Morgan's physical therapist had said. It was all one step at a time. It just felt as though it would take her years to take another step in the right direction.</p><p>Finally, Morgan was on the third floor and was about to put her key in the lock when an incredible commotion on the other side of the door stopped her. Morgan could just barely hear what the uproar involved, so, as a cautionary measure, she placed her ear against the door to better hear without having to become involved.</p><p>"-really going to go through this again!?" The voice of Eva, aggressive, charge, furious, yelled out openly, a far cry from the calm, dulcet vocalizations she had utilized earlier.</p><p>"Eva, please, she's not…him," Diya responded to the cut off question relayed by the Jorugumo. "She's nothing like him."</p><p>"How do you, you know, Diya?" Eva seemed to slam something against the ground, possibly her foot. "How do we know it's not the same shit again."</p><p>"Just because she's human-" Martinez attempted to placate Eva's rage, but Eva interrupted.</p><p>"Exactly! She's human! The last time a human made puppy dog eyes at you, at us, you know what happened!"</p><p>The silence that followed Eva's last statement was considerable. Morgan strained against to hear the door, trying to listen to any sort of response, but there was nothing. Morgan could imagine Eva standing there, facing down the giant Diya and muscular Martinez, her anger as evident as the red in her hair. There was no subtlety to the conversation topic at hand, the focus was clearly on Morgan, but it was worrisome that Eva had managed to confuse herself over the human's identity. At this point, everyone had to know who and what she was, right?</p><p>"Whatever. You guys wanna forget what happened to us, go ahead."</p><p>"Eva," Diya's voice was gentler than even Martinez's. "We're not trying to forget, but we need to move on."</p><p>"Of course <strong><b>you'd</b></strong> say that, Diya." Eva's voice dripped with a venom that frankly shocked Morgan, who could imagine how badly Diya could react to the vitriol.</p><p>"Eva!" Martinez shouted. "That is more than enough!"</p><p>"No. She wants to put humans on her pedestal. She can put them there. Not all of us can make money off of their obsession with us."</p><p>"Eva…" Martinez's voice had a dangerous edge to it.</p><p>"Oh, right. Forgot I was in the presence of royalty. Half a royal, half a-"</p><p>"Eva!" Morgan could hear Martinez stand up and, with heavy footsteps, walk to her room, the door slamming behind her.</p><p>Silence followed again. Morgan stood up and thought to walk away when the door opened, Eva stepping her way through it. When she saw Morgan, she frowned and continued her way into the stairwell, her hands in her pockets and her the hood of her jacket up. Morgan watched her leave then headed inside.</p><p>Diya was there, standing in the living room, facing outside through the blinds to the balcony. For a moment, Morgan thought to walk up to her and ask her what went wrong, but it seemed…inapproriate. Instead, she headed to her room, closing the door softly behind her. There was far too much for her to understand concerning her roommates' past for her to parse through at the moment, and she probably didn't have the emotional wherewithal to overcome it anyway. They could keep their secrets, and she'd live there for the time being. When her lease was over, though, she'd leave Jimton and get out of everyone's way. It seemed the best for everyone involved, Morgan realized. Get out of Jimton, for yourself and them. It was for the best.</p>
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<a name="section0008"><h2>8. Chapter 8</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The tension that followed the confrontation between the three monster roommates lingered in apartment 302 long past when the last word was spoken. Martinez didn't greet Morgan in their early morning meetings with the same warmth had been accustomed to. Morgan had also noticed she hadn't seen face or hair of Martinez's head for the last few days when seeing the dullahan brushing her detached head's hair in the living room was a nearly daily occurrence.</p><p>Diya's behavior was never particularly conventional, as far as Morgan could tell, but for the smile on her face, she was clearly fretful. Morgan and the manananggal barely traded twenty words in the four days that had passed and hadn't gone anywhere together once. There had been something of a routine, short-lived as it was, to their journeys into town, a routine Morgan had taken some comfort in. That routine gone, Morgan had to take it upon herself to explore the town more.</p><p>First things first were revisiting the Squiggly-Wiggly. Morgan had wanted a notebook of any kind, anything she could use as a journal to collect and recap her thoughts. Thoughts came to the surface that seemed inappropriate to share with the town's monster denizens, and Morgan would benefit from having a place to collect those off-kilter thoughts that wanted to be expressed.</p><p>Building the courage to enter the convenience store took its time. Morgan probably looked insane, standing off to the side, whispering to herself, but she eventually managed her way inside. Margarita seemed far less than happy to see the tall, lanky human again. Still, when Morgan managed to express her intentions to purchase a notebook or two, Margarita seemed to warm to the human quickly, leading to a back shelf that held writing supplies and notebooks. Margarita offered to sell Morgan two leather-bound notebooks of surprisingly high quality for the price of one with no negotiation.</p><p>"I won't lie to you, hu-, er, Ms. Orozco," Margarita said as she bagged the two notebooks, plus a small box of pencils and a handheld pencil sharper. "I'm selling you these as a BOGO because they've been on my shelf for legitimately as long as I can remember."</p><p>"I-I appreciate it either way," Morgan said as she took the bag from Margarita. Their fingers touched for a moment, and the human was amazed at how cold the scales on the Naga's hands felt. Margarita flinched and pulled her hand back as the warmth of Morgan's skin invaded her coolness. "Um, you can call me Morgan, though. It's not a big deal." </p><p>Margarita's eyes thinned as she looked the human up and down her length, the hand that touched Morgan's held in her other.</p><p>"I think I'll stick to Ms. Orozco, if it's all the same to you, Ms. Orozco," Margarita finished her scrutinization and went back to counting the money in the register. Morgan had nothing else to say, so she turned and headed out the door, not sure exactly if she'd be able to get the owner of the Squiggly-Wiggly to like her. </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Leticia was in the stairwell again, though her entire body was with her this time. She was standing by the window, looking down to the field below, in an adorable red dress and black pillbox hat that somewhat made her resemble a porcelain doll; with how short the monster was, that might not be a terrible comparison, Morgan thought to herself as she rounded the stairwell. </p><p>As she passed behind the smaller woman, Morgan glanced at Leticia for a moment. Without ceremony, Leticia's head whipped around 180 degrees, and she smiled when she saw the human's bewildered face.</p><p>"Ms. Morgan!" Leticia said excitedly, holding the last syllable of Morgan's name out for a moment, similarly to the way Diya did. "It's a pleasure,"</p><p>"Oh, hey! Hi, Leticia," Morgan answered back when she managed to calm herself from seeing Leticia's head whip around. Weirder was watching the monster's head stay completely still as her body spun to match it. "What're you up to today?"</p><p>"Just watching the day pass by," Leticia placed her hands behind her back and stood to her full height, which wasn't much compared to Morgan. "How about yourself, Ms. Morgan?"</p><p>"Uh, coming back from the Squiggly-Wiggly. Buying some writing…stuff." Morgan lifted her bag slightly.</p><p>"Oh, you're a writer?" Leticia didn't seem to blink very much, Morgan noticed.</p><p>"Uh, a little bit. Nowhere near, like, professionally, but yeah."</p><p>"You just <strong><b> have  </b></strong>to share some with me!" Leticia still didn't blink. Morgan tried to stare back without blinking as well.</p><p>"W-well, if I write anything new anytime soon worth sharing, I'll let you know and, uh, share," Morgan blinked, her concentration breaking.</p><p>"Do you maybe have anything older I could read?"</p><p>"Uh, maybe? I have a notebook from before my accident, but I haven't really gotten into it, yet,"</p><p>"Of course, Morgan, of course. Oh, I just remembered! Diya and I have tea every Wednesday, around 6 PM. I know we discussed it a bit in front of you, but I was wondering if you would be able to join us?"</p><p>Morgan thought for a moment about her upcoming work schedule. Freddie had called her at the late-ass time of 2:43 AM Monday and had asked how long the human felt she'd be able to work. For whatever reason, Morgan had blurted out four hours, and now the human was expected to show up Wednesday at 12 and work until about 4. 12:00 PM-4:00 PM would be a lunch rush anywhere else in the world, but, in a small town like Jimton, Morgan had no idea. She didn't have a lot of ideas about anything.</p><p>"What time?" Morgan asked, suddenly worried she had been staring down silently at Leticia for an extended, socially unacceptable, period. If she had, Leticia didn't care enough to comment.</p><p>"Our tea time usually begins whenever Diya arrives and ends when Diya leaves," Leticia giggled. "As long as she stops by, I don't mind being on a less than strict schedule."</p><p>The thought of Diya and Leticia interacting in some way brought memories of the week before, and the human's stomach went sour. Diya's random, intense vitriol towards the littler monster had Morgan more than a little uncomfortable at the thought of being alone with the two, though, at the same time, curiosity came with the discomfort.</p><p>"Uh, y' know Leticia…" Morgan started, a burst of either courage or stupidity making her speak her mind.</p><p>"Yes, Ms. Morgan?" Leticia responded, her eyes wide, her mouth very slightly agape, the barest hint of a smile on her face. Leticia was a monster, a Rokurokubi, who felt so unedged, so calm and kindhearted, it seemed an inhuman cruelty to tell her the truth of her and Diya's relationship.</p><p>"Well…I hate to, um, say anything about anything, but-" Morgan began but was interrupted as a hooded figure came down the stairwell and passed between the monster and the human. They looked to Leticia and then to Morgan, revealing the freckled visage of Eva, who was scowling as she turned, but, upon seeing the human, stopped and looked at Morgan. Her mouth opened as if to speak, but it closed, and the spider demon's eyes averted to the ground, and she continued her walk downwards.</p><p>As awkward the encounter had been, Morgan was thankful for it, as it reminded her of the promise she had made to herself the last time she had encountered Eva. As the hooded monster exited the building, Leticia, who had stretched her neck so she could watch her leave, retracted her neck with an odd, slurping noise and looked back to her conversation partner. </p><p>"That was so intense!" Leticia giggled again. "So, what was it you needed to tell me?"</p><p>"Oh, uh, it's not really at all-important or anything," Morgan said, her voice wavering as she lied. "But, uh, yeah, I'll be over when my shift's done if you guys are having still having tea."</p><p>"I'm sure we will!" Leticia said excitedly, her body beginning to walk to the door that led to the hallway, though her head stayed with Morgan. "You might be surprised, but Diya and I can get into some incredibly scintillating conversations,"</p><p>"I…don't doubt it." Morgan laughed, half out of nervousness, half from the mental image of Diya looking down with the smaller monster, her teacup rattling against her saucer with barely contained rage. "You both are very interesting people,"</p><p>"Aww, Ms. Morgan," Leticia winked as her neck shortened to follow her body through the door. "You little flirt."</p><p>With that, Leticia's head was gone, just barely avoiding being caught by the closing door. </p><p>Morgan continued her way up the stairs, forcing her mind from the far future to the, well, still the future but less so, her first shift on her new job coming up in just a few hours. She needed to be focused, composed for her first day, and in a town full of monsters, anything could happen, and she had to be ready.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Readiness came with expectation, but nothing could have prepared Morgan for the outfit she was expected to wear while on shift.</p><p>Standing in a dingy, single toilet bathroom, Morgan held her uniform out in front of her, her eyes barely able to receive in the ghastly pink and blue combination of fabric that made up her waitress outfit. The frills around the hem of the dress mockingly dipped back and forth, leading to a white apron that was attached to the front of the outfit, meaning any food that fell from a plate onto Morgan's uniform would stain the thing regardless, which left the human confused as to why they had even bothered. </p><p>Leaving her musings about the structure of her work uniform to the side, Morgan slipped from her clothes and hung them from the hanger the abomination had been on. For just a moment, Morgan thought to put her clothes back on, to leave the uniform hanging on the door handle, and to walk away from the little town of Jimton, somewhere far, where there were no monsters or maybe even people. Just a place of silence and quiet and restfulness.</p><p>If such a place like that existed, Morgan might have been able to convince herself to go there. Of course, it didn't, so she pulled up the uniform, zipped up the zipper in the back with some struggle, and gave herself a quick, mournful look in the bathroom before heading out to the dining room.</p><p> </p><p>"Don't forget your hat," Freddie commanded gruffly, flipping a pancake with his right hand as he pushed a tiny paper hat onto Morgan's head. In both of Morgan's hands were a plate, one covered in a black, tar-like substance that glimmered purple and randomly bubbled, the other just steak, scrambled eggs, and hash-browns. </p><p>This particular order went to the monster duo sitting in the corner next to the jukebox that was playing what sounded like chiming bells that had been thrown down a flight of stairs. One monster was a woman with thick black hair that coursed down her body, obscuring much of her facial features, aside from her lips, painted red, and chin. The other was a long-faced, orange-skinned man with a big white beard, who was short enough to need a booster seat to sit at the table.</p><p>Morgan made her way over to the two, bounding as quickly and carefully as she could before she stood before the two, both of whom turned to her.</p><p>"So, we have the…" The human stopped and looked at the miasmatic mess in her left hand. The meal had been ordered before she had stepped into the dining room, so Morgan had to make up for the waitress before her, who had absconded before Morgan could introduce herself. "We have <strong><b> this </b></strong>," Morgan gestured it lower. "and we have the steak and eggs?"</p><p>Neither monster said anything, continuing to stare at Morgan blankly, the bearded monster with large blue eyes, the other with what seemed to be nothing. Any hope they would direct Morgan with who had ordered what evaporated as the silence continued. </p><p>"O-Okay!" Morgan tried to keep a positive tone to her voice. She placed the goop in front of the black-haired monster, assuming it would get stuck in the other monster's beard, and set the steak and eggs in front of the short bearded monster. "Um, well, please enjoy?" Morgan said as she stiffly turned and walked away, her joints held in place as she scampered off. </p><p>When the human returned to Freddie, the tengu took a water pitcher and pushed it into Morgan's hands and pointed back at the table. Understanding, Morgan headed back to the table, where she noticed both monsters bristled as she approached.</p><p>"Uh, c-can I refill anyone's cup?" The faux perky voice was beginning to grate on even her ears, so Morgan could only assume what the couple, if they were a couple, thought of her. Silently, the bearded monster pushed his cup to the edge of the table.</p><p>Morgan tried to lift the pitcher by its handle, but the weight had her arm shaking, from her fingers to her shoulders. Carefully, she placed her other hand at the bottom and precariously tipped the container forward, pouring water into the cup agonizingly slow. Morgan could feel the two monster's gazes locked on her as she continued to pour, and, as the glass filled to what the human assumed was the correct amount, she breathed a sigh of relief and tilted the pitcher back.</p><p>The hand at the bottom of the container slipped, and Morgan tried to compensate with the other; however, she counterbalanced too far. The pitcher tipped and fell, knocking both cups over and spilling water over the table, the food, and the two customers.</p><p>Morgan froze, the disaster unfolding in front of her in slow motion. The long-haired monster disappeared with a screech, reappearing on the other side of the booth while the other monster lept up and stood, with large, barefoot feet, on the back of the seat. </p><p>"Ey!" Freddie was suddenly behind Morgan, lifting her by the back of her uniform and placing her to the side with the same energy it would take for a mother cat to move her kittens, the pitcher still in the human's shaking hands. "Sorry, Mindy, Ace. Let me get you some new plates while you move to a new table."</p><p>"Mmm," the no-faced monster snarled a low growl and spoke with a low craggy voice. "Keep your new pet on a short leash,"</p><p>Freddie snorted as he picked up the frozen Morgan again and deposited her by the register. He stepped to a back closet and returned with a roll of paper towels, tossing them to Morgan, who fumbled to prevent it from falling from her grasp.</p><p>"You never pour water before, human?" Freddie looked away from Morgan and began to cook on the giant flat stove. </p><p>"It's Morgan," the human said quietly. "And it was heavy."</p><p>"Eh?" Freddie turned to look at Morgan, who couldn't read the expression on the cook's face. </p><p>"Nothing. I-I'll get it cleaned." Morgan slinked away from the register and returned to the table where the water had been spilled. She picked up the cups and silverware from the ground and stacked them onto the plates, taking them to the sink where dishes were expected to be washed between order taking and rounds between the tables. Back at the table, Morgan cleaned the mess sheet by sheet, wiping up the seats, the floors, and the table itself, all while her face continued to burn, and her sight became blurry when she blinked her tears away. Morgan could imagine the occupants of the restaurant staring at her in her stupid outfit, wiping up the stupid water because her stupid arms couldn't hold the stupid pitcher and her stupid ass spilled the stupid water over the whole stupid fucking store. Or restaurant or diner or wherever the fuck she was working. </p><p>With a sigh, Morgan stood, the sight of her mishap spotless, and walked back to the cooking station, where Freddie was waiting with two recooked meals, same as the ones from before. </p><p>"This one," Her boss handed Morgan the goop. "Is for Ace, the screeching one with the," he gestured a hand over his face. "And the steak is for Mindy, with the beard," Freddie said as he handed Morgan the other plate. Morgan nodded and took a deep breath before she walked, slowly, to the two monsters.</p><p>"Okay! Uh, sorry about that," Morgan tried to hold onto whatever positive edge she could as she placed the plates in front of their respective orderers. Fortunately, it seemed Freddie had provided both water and silverware to the two, so any extra back-and-forth Morgan needed to do was minimized, at least in this case. "Here's your food! Can I get you anything else? Salt, pepper, ketchup?"</p><p>Ace snorted. "Couple drops of your blood wouldn't hurt,"</p><p>Morgan didn't react at the remark, some sort of instinct taking over for a moment as she straightened up more and smiled just a little wider. </p><p>"I'm afraid we don't have that available. If you need anything else, I won't be far." Morgan turned on her heels and stiffly walked back to the cooking station where she stood, occasionally glancing back at the two monster's eating their meals. They never looked back to Morgan, nor did they ask for another refill of water, though they probably didn't want a repeat of what happened last time. </p><p>Several more monsters poured into Freddie's Diner. Morgan greeted them all with an equal amount of frankly exhausting bubbliness, though she managed to find a decent level as the hours went by. Monsters of many bodies and many faces came to dine in the restaurant, though some more stood out more than others. </p><p>One was a monster, also with long black hair, who had a mouth on the back of their head as well under their nose and whose hair was prehensile, the strands lifting food from their plate to the rear mouth as their hand fed the front mouth. Morgan was curious whether it all went to the same place.</p><p>Another was a monster with her hair up in a ponytail and a mask covering the lower half of her face, who ordered a burger that nearly covered the entirety of the plate Morgan brought it out on. When Morgan looked back to her, the mask was around the monster's neck, and her jaw hung open wide, her mouth stretching almost literally from ear to ear. Seeing the monster eat her meal in literally two bites was astonishing.</p><p>As monsters came and monsters left, Morgan felt herself settle into a comfortable routine. A monster or group of monsters would come in, be shown to their table by Morgan, provided water, and almost immediately order without even looking at the menu, one of which was permanent left at every table. Many of the dishes had to be said to Morgan twice, the strangeness of the names being said throwing Morgan off of her game considerably. For dishes of those inscrutable varieties, Morgan had to slowly sound out the words, an action that had Freddie grinning more often than not. The dishes brought back to the customer were fearsome at best and disgusting at worst, involving ingredients Morgan could barely describe, much less identify. </p><p>The monsters seemed to be enjoying Freddie's food and Morgan's service and satisfied customers meant a larger tip, according to what the human understood concerning social norms. However, every time Morgan went to clean a table once a group was finished with their meal, the human found nothing but empty plates and half-full cups. Freddie had promised she could keep her tips, but it seemed like a non-issue if no one in town tipped.</p><p>It was 30 minutes until the end of Morgan's shift when the last customer entered Freddie's Diner. Morgan had been sitting at an empty table, drinking a glass of water as her feet and back ached, but the moment another customer walked through the doors, she was back up, a smile on her face and a bundle of napkins and silverware in her hand. </p><p>"Welcome to Freddie's Diner! Please, take any unoccupied table. Front is non-smoking, back is…" Morgan stopped, suddenly taken in by the person walking in from inside. She was a short woman with dark, wavy reddish-blond hair, tucked in behind her ears, fierce, thin eyes encircled with eyeliner, and a scowl sat between two chubby, high boned cheeks. What gave pause to Morgan's introduction was an odd feeling, a sense, a detection, that the being standing in front of her was definitely, 100%, a human. Morgan wasn't sure why or how she could tell; maybe she had just been among monsters enough that she could tell when another aberration had come to town, but without asking, Morgan knew this other person was human, same as her.</p><p>"Back is?" The red-haired woman asked, her voice as gruff as the look on her face. </p><p>"Oh, uh, back is smoking," Morgan finished, her brain pulled back to the conversation, rather than observation. The woman took a pack of cigarettes from her jacket, a big, purple and black windbreaker, took one from the box, and lit it before walking to the back.</p><p>"Perfect," She said as she passed between Morgan and Freddie, who had been cleaning the scraps of whatever from his oven range. Morgan stole a glance at Freddie, who looked back blankly. When the human had gone into the back, Morgan leaned to her boss. </p><p>"She's human!" Morgan hissed, as though she was telling the tengu a secret he didn't already know. </p><p>"Hmm? So?" Freddie snapped the oven back on. "Yer human, just the same,"</p><p>"Yeah, but I'm here on accident!" Morgan hissed a little louder.</p><p>"Maybe she is too." </p><p>"I doubt everyone who comes to Jimton has a brain injury like me!"</p><p>Freddie huffed and walked to the sink to clean his hands. "If the human has money, she gets food. Don't really care why she's in town long as she eats."</p><p>Morgan supposed that was true. Hell, maybe, as a human, she'd actually leave a fellow homo sapien a tip. One could hope, at least, Morgan thought to herself.</p><p>No other customer had gone to the back yet, so it took Morgan a few moments to find the human in far, far back, next to some bins and nonperishables. The back had far fewer lights than the front, most everything bathing in the illuminance of thin lights above that barely gave off any light and flickered every few minutes.</p><p>"Can I get you anything to drink?" Morgan asked, her airiness disguising her unease. Being in the presence of another human felt wrong, almost. </p><p>"Got any beer?" The woman took a long drag of her cigarette and exhaled from her nose.</p><p>"We, uh, hmm." Morgan thought for a moment. "I don't believe so?"</p><p>"What, you don't know what's on your own menu?" The other human almost seemed sneer.</p><p>"I haven't been working here very long," Morgan shrugged sheepishly.</p><p>"How long?" </p><p>"Uh, 3ish hours?" Morgan straightened up. "Oh, but there's a beer, uh, I mean there's a bar in the town square, but they don't open until later, I think."</p><p>"Eh, veh, feh," The woman waved her hand. "Whatever, I'll just have water." She picked up a menu and gave it a once over, looking at the various items pictured and listed. "What the fuck is Percosoloso?"</p><p>"Oh, Percosoloso?" Morgan had more than a little bit of trouble trying to pronounce <strong><b> that  </b></strong>one. "It's, like, uh, a soup? For monsters? I won't lie; I didn't look very close at it."</p><p>"Got anything I can eat?" The human asked, giving up searching for herself as she twirled the menu back onto the table.</p><p>"Freddie cooks steak and eggs?" Morgan offered. Any monster who didn't eat something monster related had the steak and eggs. </p><p>"Are they any good?" </p><p>"I-" Morgan almost answered that she didn't know, but the human in the booth raised a hand and rubbed her eyes with the other. </p><p>"I'm sure you haven't eaten them yet. Look, let's start with water, coffee, and some steak and eggs."</p><p>"Sure!" Morgan pulled a pad from her apron/dress and wrote down the order. "How would you like your steak and eggs cooked?"</p><p>"Medium and scrambled."</p><p>"And the name for the order?" Morgan asked, pulling her face from the notebook to look at the human.</p><p>"Samantha," Samantha said as she lit a fresh cigarette. "Samantha Eaton,"</p><p> </p><p>The order was cooked as quickly as the others and Morgan brought the food to Samantha even quicker, eager to leave the diner.</p><p>"Hey," Samantha spoke up as Morgan placed her food in front of her. "Can I ask you a stupid ass question?"</p><p>"No," Morgan said with a stern face before breaking into a small smile. "Of course, what can I do to help?"</p><p>Samantha looked Morgan up and down and thinned her already narrow eyes. "You're not from around here, are you?"</p><p>"Nope!" Morgan continued to smile, hoping that the other human would drop the questioning. </p><p>"Hmm," Samantha's eyes opened a little wider. "You're a fucking human, aren't you?"</p><p>"Uh, y-yes?" Morgan answered quietly, though she wasn't sure why. It wasn't as though no one in town thought or knew otherwise. Suddenly, Samantha grabbed Morgan's arm and pulled her into the booth with her, on the same arm. Morgan's arm stung from the tug and the grip but stayed silent as Samantha stared at her.</p><p>"What the <strong><b> fuck  </b></strong>are you doing here?" Samantha whispered harshly, her voice barely registering above the hum of the lights above the table.</p><p>"Uh, uh, working?" Morgan tried to remain calm as she was interrogated. </p><p>"No, I mean," Samantha huffed. "What the fuck are you doing in fucking Jimton? You know this place is full of monsters, right?"</p><p>"Well, I figured it out eventually," Morgan responded truthfully.</p><p>"Hardy har," The other human let go of Morgan and shook her head. "You gotta get the fuck outta here, man. It's a fucking deathtrap here,"</p><p>"What're you-"</p><p>"Fucking, like, dude," Samantha laughed breathily. "This place. 'Jimton, Texas!' Come for the homemade knick-knacks, stay cause you're in a monster's stomach."</p><p>"Whoa," Morgan jumped up from the seat. "Look, I, uh, appreciate the concern, but no one's been like that to me since I got here,"</p><p>"You fuckin' one of them?" Samantha asked, glaring up at Morgan.</p><p>For a moment, Morgan thought of Diya but shook the thought away. Diya fucked humans if Eva's comments from a few days ago were to be believed, but Morgan had nothing to do with that. "No, I'm not…" Morgan flushed, "I'm not dating or, or sleeping with anyone here. I just live here,"</p><p>"Then you're not safe," Samantha stood up. "It's dangerous here, uh?"</p><p>"Morgan," Morgan said, though she regretted it.</p><p>"It's super fucking dangerous to be here alone, Morgan, especially at night. People disappear around Jimton constantly, and as much as that bitch Shamburger keeps pretending it isn't, it's because of the monsters here,"</p><p>"What are you doing here then?" Morgan asked, a hand on her hip. "If its so, so d-dangerous, what're you here for?"</p><p>"I," Samantha sat back down and looked at her meal. "I'm looking for something. I'm not planning on being here long, like, a day or two, and then I'm gone. But you have to trust me. Get the fuck out of Jimton, quick as you can. Look," Samantha reached into her pocket and pulled out a pen and a scrap piece of paper and scribbled a few numbers onto it. "You wanna get out of here, call me, okay? Promise me you'll call me."</p><p>Morgan took the paper and looked it over before putting it in her pocket and nodding, unsure what to say. Samantha nodded back and began eating her food with a voraciousness Morgan had only seen Diya display. With that, Morgan walked away from the eating human, her footsteps shaky as she walked back to Freddie.</p><p>"You were back there a minute," Freddie said simply, not asking a question.</p><p>"Yeah, sorry. Got talking about…human things." Morgan reached her hand into her pocket and touched the paper. </p><p>"Figures," Freddie laughed gruffly. "Alright, so, for your first day…" The tengu pushed a button on his register, the drawer popping open. "You didn't do terrible. The fuck up with Ace and Mindy was something, but hey, we all have shit days."</p><p>"Yeah, we do," Morgan agreed softly.</p><p>"Shit happens though," Freddie laughed again. "So, you're still hired if you wanna be. Here," The tengu pulled a handful of cash from under a removable part of the register. Quickly, he counted out the bills and handed them out to Morgan. "There ya go."</p><p>"Uh, what's this?" Morgan tentatively reached out and took the money, counting out the twenties and ones and fives into a collection of 57 dollars. </p><p>"Yer tips?" Freddie shook his head. "How hard did you hit yer head again?"</p><p>"Yeah, but," Morgan looked at the empty tables. "There weren't any tips left at the tables?"</p><p>"Yeah? Cause they give them to me so they don't get stolen."</p><p>"Monster's steal from each other?"</p><p>"Course. Everyone steals from each other."</p><p>"Huh," Morgan folded the bills and placed in them in the pocket opposite the one holding the phone number. "I guess that's true. I…guess I'll be going?"</p><p>"Sure," Freddie flipped the oven off. "Don't worry. I'll handle the human in the back. I'll hold the tip til next time you work."</p><p>Morgan nodded and headed to the door, looking back as she stepped towards outside. Freddie was standing by a side door, an unlit cigarette in his lips, looking to the ground as he flicked his lighter alight. He caught Morgan looking back at him and gave her a stern look and a wave goodbye. Morgan felt a pang of guilt hit her in the chest as she waved back, though she couldn't be sure if it was from wondering if Freddie was dangerous or for leaving Samantha behind at the diner. </p><p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0009"><h2>9. Chapter 9</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>The last bit of bubbles and suds had gone down into the shower’s drain when Morgan heard her phone vibrate softly on the bathroom sink. For a moment, Morgan was worried that Samantha had gotten a hold of her number without the human’s knowledge, but she checked it all the same as she dried off. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Unknown: Hi!</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Morgan frowned.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Morgan: Who is this?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Unknown: It’s Leticia! You know, Letty?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Morgan: Oh hey!</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The human took a few moments to add the little monster to her contact list as Leticia sent a few messages. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Leticia: I hope you don’t mind.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Leticia: Diya gave me your number earlier and I thought it best if I confirm you’re coming over tonight?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Morgan: Its good yeah Ill be there.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Leticia: Did work treat you well?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Morgan frowned, thinking back on just half an hour before. She didn’t like the way she felt as she walked home, her body in pain and her mind circling around a conspiracy from a random human. A shower was exactly what she needed to cast her workday aside, but that thought of the so-called old ways still being practiced wouldn’t be leaving Morgan’s brain any time soon. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Morgan: It was work lol</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Leticia: I’m sure you handled it great :)</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Leticia: If you’d like, you can come over early. Diya’s still on the way, I think.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>No one else was in the apartment, Morgan thought as she walked from the bathroom to her bedroom, clothed only in a towel Martinez had provided her. Eva could have been in her room, but the last thing Morgan wanted to do was to talk to her. Morgan got dressed in a pair of jeans from Zemo’s thrift shop and a long-sleeved shirt that read “I Bite Back” on the front and read Leticia’s message. Being alone in the apartment was excellent, especially considering how cold the last few days had been between all four of its occupants, but Morgan didn’t feel like being alone.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Morgan: Sure! I’ll be down in a sec.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Leticia sent a sticker of a puppy jumping up in the air with rainbow letters spelling out “YAY” above it as a response. Morgan laughed at the sight of the Leticia’s message and walked out to the living room.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Eva was there, sitting on the couch, her hand out, and holding the tv’s remote. On her crisscrossed legs, a laptop illuminated the Jorogumo’s face, showing the fullness of the freckles on her face and the lines on her chin. Upon hearing Morgan emerge from her room, Eva’ eyes snapped over to the standing human. Even with the light of the television and the computer, the intense bright blue of the monster’s eyes shone brightly towards Morgan. Morgan had noticed that quite a few monsters had eyes that shone with an unknown light, but she had no idea why some did and why some didn’t.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Uh,” Morgan didn’t smile, though she didn’t frown either. “Hi,”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>After a few seconds of staring, Eva blinked. “Hey…you looking for Diya?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No,” Morgan looked to the door. “I’m, uh, I’m heading to Leticia’s, actually.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh, cool.” Eva nodded and looked back to the TV. With that conversation over, Morgan walked to the door when Eva spoke up again. “Hey, uh, Morgan.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Huh?” Morgan turned back to Eva, who had closed her laptop and looked at her very intently, almost uncomfortably so. The look on her face made her seemed pained, or maybe she was farting. Either way, Morgan was a little unnerved by the glare. “You okay?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, I just,” Eva bit her bottom lip with one of her black fangs and looked to the ground. After another few seconds passed, and the monster shook her head and turned back to the TV again. “Never mind, sorry. Have fun at Letty’s.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Uh, okay. Thanks, I’ll try?” Morgan went out the door quick as she could, hoping to avoid more awkwardness from the Jorogumo. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Morgan couldn’t remember the number of Leticia’s apartment. Still, she recognized the tiny chair, surrounded by fake plants and multicolored doodads, that the Rokurokubi had sat in when they had first met, so Morgan knocked on the door of apartment 201.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nearly immediately, the door opened, and the tiny Rokurokubi was in the door, dressed to the nines in an outfit reminiscent of the ones Morgan had seen her in before. A long black beret sat on Leticia's head sideways, or maybe frontways, Morgan couldn’t be sure, while on her face she wore a pair of large, rounded glasses. On her body, the monster wore a light blue turtleneck and a short brown skirt that went down to about her mid-thigh, where the hem was met by a pair of knee-high white socks that led down to round black shoes.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>As usual, Leticia had a broad smile on her face that was accentuated by subtle nude lipstick, matched by her familiar winged eyeliner and an interestingly blended eyeshadow of a soft red and black. Her hair, usually worn straight, had been curled. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Morgan was a little taken by how nice Leticia looked, especially considering the human’s casual clothing. Still, another thought came to mind that wiggled its way to the top of the human’s brain that Morgan couldn’t easily shake, even as Leticia began to talk. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You look nice today, Ms. Morgan.” Leticia said gently, softly, not quite the same energy level that Morgan was used to experiencing the monster at.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh! Pfft,” Morgan laughed nervously and shook her head. “No, no. Uh, thanks, but I just, this is just whatever. You look great, though! I love your…everything.” Morgan tittered again and felt her face warm.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hush, you,” Leticia smiled and stood out of the way to allow Morgan inside. “You look as radiant as ever.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Morgan smiled as she walked through the doorway, taking in the Rokurokubi’s apartment for the first time. A charming one-bedroom, the kitchen was directly on the entryway’s right and while a short hallway led directly to the living room. Perhaps Morgan didn’t know Leticia very well, she had only spoken to the monster twice, but the furnishings in Leticia’s apartments seemed pretty barren compared to the monster’s personality. There was a small coffee table in the middle of the floor that a single couch was pushed close to, facing a large window covered by blackout curtains, with a handful of sitting pillows surrounded the parts of the table not next to the couch. Aside from the mugs sitting on coasters on the coffee, there wasn’t much else to look at in the living room. The kitchen seemed bare of any decorations or adornments.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Please, take a seat!” Leticia said excitedly as she walked into the kitchen, a soft click coming from the room, presumably the monster turning on her stove to heat the water. Her head extended out from a bar that let one view the living room from the kitchen as Morgan sat at one of the pillows. “So, you said work was good?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Eh,” Morgan chuckled. “I mean, it was work? I made decent money from tips, so I can’t complain…though my feet do hurt…”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well, I can only imagine!” Leticia laughed lightly, and Morgan could feel her cheeks heat up once more. “Freddie can be a real, hmm,” She appeared lost in thought for a moment, which involved her neck bending 180 degrees and looking up at the ceiling, then snapping back upright. “A real hardass, I think is the word, but he’s nice all the same! His taste of fashion leaves…something to be desired. By the way, you look nice now, but you looked adorable in your uniform!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Morgan sputtered. “You saw me in it? I didn’t see you at the diner.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The monster laughed. “I wasn’t there. I just saw you coming home. Pink and blue are definitely your colors,” Leticia ended her sentence with a wink and retracted her neck before walking back to the living with a tray of snacks and goodies, some of which had the distinct “monster-only” smell and look to them, but others looked edible to humans, those being the ones that Morgan spied hungrily. Leticia placed the display in the center of the table, and Morgan reached to take a small pink confectionery when the monster softly but firmly pushed her hand down.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No snacking until the tea is served, Ms. Morgan.” The Rokurokubi huffed and returned to the kitchen, the noises from inside seeming dramatically loud for making tea. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Sitting alone, with only the inexplicable sounds of Leticia preparing the tea to block out her thoughts, Morgan the human contemplated on the random new feeling she was having towards Letty.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>For every monster Morgan had encountered, she had logged some thought in her brain about them, usually something short and straightforward. Peter Curry was loud and friendly, Bryan Zemo nervous and odd, Freddie was stern and authoritative, but a word that she hadn’t applied to a monster was “attractive”. Well, that wasn’t 100 percent accurate; Margarita was undoubtedly attractive but, aside from the scales on her face and the lower half of her body, she was human-like. Martinez was beautiful, gorgeous even, but she was indistinguishable from a human when she had her head on.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Leticia couldn’t ever be confused for a human under any circumstances, what with her wickedly red eyes, sharp black teeth, and the tiny claws painted blue on her fingers. Despite this, or perhaps, astoundingly, because of, Morgan found Leticia attractive, alluringly so. The human couldn’t be sure when the feeling settled itself in her, but it was there, sitting deep in her chest, forcing her to look at the Rokurokubi through new eyes. The way she moved, the way she laughed, and the casual way she spoke were all very engaging to the human. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>It was also goddamn confounding, everything considered, but there could be no more time for consideration, as Letty had rounded the corner, teapot held by the handle in one of the Rokurokubi’s small hands.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m not sure what sort of tea you prefer,” Leticia explained as she sat on the pillow facing Morgan and placed the teapot down. “So I went with something simpler? If you don’t like it, we can try something different next time to see if you enjoy it.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Morgan couldn’t imagine a scenario where she wouldn’t join Leticia for tea again, but her mouth opened without her brain’s authority. “I hope so, but I can’t make promises I’ll come by again.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Leticia smiled small, her eyes closing. “All I ask is for the chance to impress!” She laughed and poured a mug of tea for herself and one for Morgan. Morgan took the handle and brought the brew to her nose, taking in the full range of smells the tea had to offer. It was quite unlike Esmeralda’s tea, which had an intense, spicy quality to it that warmed the human from head to toe. Leticia’s tea was more floral, citrusy, and much lighter in color than the librarian’s, and when Morgan took a sip, the natural sweetness coated her mouth and her throat as she swallowed. It was the sort of tea the human imagined Leticia would drink all the time.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What do you think?” Leticia asked, her elbow on the table and her head leaned on her hand. She looked at Morgan with narrow, almost disinterested eyes, sending a worried panic into the human, who smiled weakly and nodded. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s good. Really good! I don’t really drink tea, uh, at all, I more enjoy coffee, but I really like this.” Morgan followed her short review with another sip, too ashamed by her foolish mouth to continue talking. Being awkward around monster’s was more her forte, just being straight up rude was another.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Are you saying you might come back?” Leticia asked as she reached to the tray in the center of the table and took a black, sparkly pastry, eating it before Morgan could respond. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Absolutely! I like sp-sp, um,” Morgan’s face got hotter than it ever had before and she laughed and shook her head. “Um, can I use your room? Your bathroom? Where’s your bathroom?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Leticia finished her pastry and licked the crumbs off of her thumb before pointing down a hallway directly in front of Morgan. Morgan jumped up and charged forward as casually as she possibly could. Behind her, the human could hear Letty stand up and return to the kitchen. Morgan tried to ignore the tingling up her spine as she walked into the door on the right.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It wasn’t the bathroom. Of course, it wasn’t the bathroom. Morgan wouldn’t be lucky enough to go to her intended destination, no. She had to barge into Letty’s bedroom, where a large canopy bed with a white shawl was in the corner, ornate furniture was pushed up against the wall, and a strange camera and mirror set was sat next to a computer. Morgan knew it would be smarter to get out of the room as quickly as possible, but her curiosity needed to be sated about the computer. Eva had said that most monster’s were frightened of technology, so seeing such a complicated set up was strange, to say the least. Morgan stepped forward to look a little closer and jumped back when her eyes adjusted to the computer’s screen saver’s dim light. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Surrounding the computer were sex toys of an incredible variety. Molded plastic tools for pleasures, some attached to machines, some small, some unreasonably large, some colored flesh, some colored neon, all methodically arranged on Leticia’s computer desk. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Feeling as though she was looking at something she was not meant to see, Morgan turned and opened the door, thankful she could hear Leticia still in the kitchen. She walked down to just a bit farther down the hall and cracked open a door. Finding it to be where she needed to be, Morgan pushed herself into Leticia’s bathroom.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It was ridiculously ornate in the bathroom. Everything, from the towels to the soap holders to the goddamn shower curtain looked extraordinarily expensive, to the point that Morgan felt uncomfortable touching anything. A small candle was lit on the sink, emitting the smell of apple cinnamon, that looked expensive as well, sitting on a special dish sat there purely for the benefit of its existence. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Morgan ignored the candle and her apprehension, turning on the cold water and splashing some in her face, killing the heat stored there, and looked to the human in the mirror staring back at her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Her hair was longer, her face was, thankfully, fuller, but it was still a face she could barely recognize. A face with mole and marks and scars, a face that she had met for the first time in a hospital bathroom. A face that was hers and someone else’s.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>A face that belonged to a goddamn idiot that couldn’t keep her stupid mouth from always saying the wrong thing. Morgan briefly wanted to scream, to pull the towel rack from the wall and smash it into the beautiful candle, the mirror, everything that could be destroyed around her, but the feeling passed with a breath, and the human was left shaking her head at herself in the mirror. Wiping her eyes, Morgan took another deep breath and stepped from the bathroom, putting on her best, closed mouth smile as she walked through the short hallway back to the living room.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Leticia was back at the table, this time sitting at the couch as she ate another pastry, her face still save for her chewing. She looked sad if Morgan were to guess, and there was one thing the human wanted to do, it was to get that look off of the Rokurokubi’s face.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Letty, I-” Morgan began but was interrupted as the apartment’s front door opened, and Diya entered around the corner, dressed in a loose-fitting suit with a long brown coat on top of it. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Fortunately, Alfonso Ortiz managed to remember our weekly get-together,” Diya said as she shed her coat and put it to the side, her voice tinged with annoyance. “So they had both cucumbers and prosc-Morgan?” Diya’s irritation was replaced with wonder upon seeing the human in the living room, her face not hiding her shock.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh! Uh, hi Diya,” Morgan gave the Manananggal a small wave. The look on Diya’s face sent a bolt of guilt straight into Morgan’s chest, along with a similar feeling that the human had experienced when she saw Leticia that day. If struggling for a few moments with a newfound attraction to the tiny monster had thrown Morgan into a small spiral, realizing that she was in some way into her giant roommate sent her down an impossibly large water slide with no inner tube. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Diya’s face almost immediately snapped back to its neutral, tiny smile, a look that never left, even when she seemed upset, and she looked from Morgan to Leticia with a grin. “Have you been cheating on me, Leticia?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m afraid I have been,” Leticia, who had turned her whole body to face the door, sighed dramatically. “I just can’t be a one monster woman anymore,” She smiled a grey toothed smile and winked at Diya. “I hope you brought extra,”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Morgan isn’t a monster,” Diya took off her shoes and stepped into the living room, patting Morgan on the head as she passed, sending heat from the top of the human’s head to her feet. “And I had been told that we were having a guest to our weekly congregation, I would have brought more.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That’s fine,” Leticia giggled and flipped around so she faced the table. “I filled up on pastries. Morgan can have mine!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Upon hearing her name, Morgan walked back over to the coffee table and took a seat opposite Diya, who still managed to tower over the other two tea party participants. The two continued to talk, back and forth, as Leticia took plates from a shelf under the coffee table and placed them for Morgan and Diya. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The cucumber sandwich was incredibly fresh and crunchy, and Morgan wolfed it, observing Diya and Letty converse. Unlike their interaction a week or so before, the two monsters seemed to get along quite well over tea and snacks. Diya even laughed softly at a pun Leticia made. It was kind of adorable to see them be friendly. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“How about you, Morgan?” Diya asked, turning from Leticia to the human, who, once again, was caught staring, though she was able to cover her lack of response with the strawberry puff bite in her mouth.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Uh, what’s that?” Morgan asked after swallowing and sipping another cup of tea that Letty had poured her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“How has your week been?” Leticia asked excitedly.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh! Well, um, pretty quiet?” Morgan shrugged. “Aside from work. It’s been a little awk-uh,” the human glanced to Diya, who was relatively stone-faced, “I met a human, actually! At Freddie’s Diner.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Really?” Diya cocked her head to the side. “A human came to Jimton?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“And ate at Freddie’s?” Leticia finished the thought.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah! She was a little weird, looked like she was, uh, maybe on something. Otherwise, she was fine.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What was her name?” Letty asked. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Samantha…something?” Morgan shook her head, not able to remember if Samantha had provided her last name. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Strange…” Diya said as she stood and walked to the bathroom. “I’ll be right back.” Before entering the room on the left, she turned and smiled at the two sitting at the table. “Don’t go crazy while I’m gone,”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>With Diya gone, Letty and Morgan were alone again. Morgan was about to open her mouth to ask some sort of question when Letty said something that floored the poor, unprepared human.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“My god, she hates me so fucking much,” Leticia giggled again and shook her head before taking a sip of her tea. After her drink, she looked to Morgan with a sharp glare, a smile on her tiny face at Morgan’s open mouth. “Did you really not notice?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I, uh, I-”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I suppose you wouldn’t,” Leticia placed her mug on its coaster and twisted it with the tips of her fingers. “Diya does a good job of hiding it, but it’s pretty obvious, when you spend enough time around her, what she likes and doesn’t like,”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m, eheh, I…” Morgan tried to speak, but her mouth had gone almost completely dry. She coughed and swallowed hard. “Why you, why do you always wanna hang out with her then?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Leticia looked down at her empty cup and kept twirling it in place. “It’s funny, if I’m going to be honest. When we met for the first time, she seemed out of place and lonely, so I thought she’d need the company. Diya’s really so nice and conversational, so I kept inviting her to help her fit in, even though I…” Leticia flipped the cup over. “I don’t really ever leave the apartment. It’s gotten to be like, I don’t know, a game? Sometimes I push and say things I know she hates, just to see if she’ll react or just never come by again. She comes by every Wednesday, with those sandwiches, and we talk ur weeks, even though my story never changes.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Leticia flipped the cup back upright and smiled large at Morgan, who had barely breathed since the Rokurokubi had started talking. “Plus, it’s really nice having someone to talk to every week, wouldn’t you agree?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Morgan nodded, not able to say anything in particular. Fortunately, Diya was back from the bathroom, her presence cutting through the tension like a warm knife. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The get together continued just a while longer, Morgan, Diya, and Leticia chatting about one thing or another. Even with Leticia’s words in her head, the human did her best to play along, making the occasional pun or joke, each pulling a raucous laugh from the tiniest woman in the room.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The sun had been gone from the sky for quite some time when Letty stood from her seat and clapped once. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well! This has been so, so lovely, but I have to get ready for work, girls!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh!” Morgan stood and started collecting the plates. Leticia quickly took the dishes from the human and patted her hand again. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s for the host to clean, not the guests.” Leticia sniffed, her neck stretching to match Morgan’s height. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Are you sure?” Morgan asked, not wanting to leave but also not wanting to interrupt Leticia while she was working. Actually, what sort of job would the Rokurokubi be doing so late at night? Morgan thought back to the computer desk in the monster’s bedroom, and she shook her head to dismiss the incredibly inappropriate thought taking form.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Absolutely! No ‘ifs, ands, or ass’ about it” Leticia shooed Morgan from the table with a few flicks of her hand, the human turning to follow Diya to the front door.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It was a pleasure as always, Leticia,” Diya said pleasantly from the front of the hallway as she put her jacket on. “Have a good rest of your night,”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You do the same,” Leticia said to Diya before looking to Morgan and winking at her. “Thanks for coming, Morgy! I hope you can make it next week!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I hope I can too!” Morgan tried to put as much enthusiasm into her response as she could. It wasn’t a lie. Morgan did want to make it back. She just wanted to make sure Letty knew. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Diya and Morgan stepped into the stairwell and began to head up the stairs to the third floor. As they rounded the turn, Diya looked down at the human next to her. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“How did you end up coming to our little get-together?” Diya asked, her tone even and nonaccusatory.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“She invited me, and I said yes,” Morgan said just as evenly. She turned and looked up into the Manananggal’s eyes. “I like Letty.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Diya opened her mouth, probably to deliver some retort or response, but she closed it and nodded. “Well, I’m certainly glad for that. It’d be a bit awkward if you kept coming back to our weekly tea pasty while disliking the monster.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Morgan huffed and shook her head as they made it to the door. Diya entered first, the human behind her, happy to be home, when a blur of red grabbed her arm and pulled her into the room with the door that had the sign reading “Not Diya’s Room” on it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Eva’s room was a recognizably impossible mess, even with Morgan’s vision being consumed in the darkness. Similarly to Leticia’s room, the one bit of light that illuminated anything in the Jorugumo’s place was a computer in a corner, with a bed close to it, though, weirdly, it was a bunk bed. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“A-Am I being kidnapped?” Morgan asked incredulously to the shorter person holding her arm. She was reasonably sure she wasn’t strong enough to get an attacker off of her, but the human knew she would put up a fight if it came to it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Wh-What?” Eva’s voice came from the figure. “Kidnapped? No, I’m not, ugh, I’m not kidnapping you, weirdo.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well then,” Morgan took Eva’s hand and pushed it off her arm before putting her fists on her hips “What are you doing?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m…” Eva went silent for a moment. “I’m trying to apologize.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Apologize? For grabbing me and stuffing me in your room?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No!” Eva hissed. “No, I’m apologizing for being an asshole.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Huh?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Dude, look, I know you heard me screaming at DiDi and Marty.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Didi?” Morgan felt like she was being assaulted by information.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Diya! And yeah, I know you were there. You had your ear next to the door when I left.” Eva crossed her arms and shook her head. Morgan could barely make out the outline of Eva. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well, I mean-” Morgan began.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No no, don’t, augh,” Eva shook her head harder. “Look, I’m a huge asshole, I’m not gonna make excuses for my bullshit. I just wanna say I’m sorry. I said fucked up shit because of shit from the past that isn’t even kinda related to you. I’m sorry I said it, and I’m sorry you heard it! I don’t really think like that about you or even other humans, dude. Just talking out my ass. Again, I’m sorry. And look, you don’t have to forgive me, I don’t wanna put that on you, but-”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Eva, it’s okay. I totally forgive you,” Morgan said, crossing her arms. “I don’t know what’s going on with, like, you and Diya and Martinez, but I wasn’t that offended. I was more worried that I was, uh, making you uncomfortable being here,”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What? No, no, not at all. I mean, at first, when I learned you were human from Marty, but, y’ know, I stopped being an idiot. You’re cool, you’re fine, you’re, uh, welcome here, man.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Morgan nodded. “Cool.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Silence passed for a few seconds, and then Morgan spoke up.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh, you know I started at Freddie’s?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No shit? Cool, I’m glad you got the job. What’d you think?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Uh, it was fine, except one monster asked for my blood.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Eva laughed. “If it was Ace or Ronee, don’t worry about it. They just like fucking around with humans.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, I figured. Uh, can we leave? It’s kind of hot in here.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh! Sure, sure, lemme,” Eva pushed her way through something on the ground and opened the door, letting herself and Morgan out of her room.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Thanks. Actually, why did you pull us into your room just to apologize?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Eva laughed again, “I’m awkward as shit, dude! I wasn’t gonna do that shit in front of Marty, and I sure as shit wasn’t gonna do that in front of my ex!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Morgan absorbed the info provided to her quickly as Diya poked her head out from inside the living room.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Found them,” Diya said laxly, “Eva, were you bothering our poor roommate?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Ah, don’t worry bitch,” Eva came around and sat next to Marty, who had her head in her lap and was brushing its hair, on the loveseat. “You know I don’t shit where I eat,”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Charming, Eva,” Diya shook her head and turned back to Morgan, gesturing for her to come sit by her on the long couch. “Come along, Morgan. There’s a new episode of ‘How it Comes’ on,”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh, can I, uh, just start watching a new show in the middle of it?” Morgan asked as she went to sit.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Don’t worry about it, hon,” Martinez finished with her head and placed it on the coffee table, next to her laptop. “This show’s so incoherent, you wouldn’t know what’s going on even if you’ve seen the whole season.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“If you hate it so much, why you watching it with us?” Eva asked as she propped her feet, her boots still on, on the table next to Martinez’s head.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m not watching, I’m working,” Martinez responded as she pushed the other monster’s feet from the table. “Also, I need to know if Mr. Hill or Mr. Traveller is the killer,”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s not either of them!” Eva laughed. This back and forth led to the three monsters arguing about why it had to be one of the Misters or how it definitely couldn’t be another. Morgan listened and interjected when she was called upon, though, when the show came on, all three of the monsters watched the show rapturously and quietly, the human following suit. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>It was halfway through the show, when Mr. Mayor had a knife to Mr. Wonder’s throat, that Morgan’s phone vibrated. Her eye’s glued to the TV, Morgan still reached into her pocket and glanced at its screen. Seeing Leticia’s name, Morgan flipped her phone open and read the message.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Leticia: You left my door open.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Leticia: ;)</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It was a fortunate thing that Mr. Wonder stole the knife away from Mr. Mayor and stabbed him in the neck because the scream that came from the television and the monster’s watching 'How It Comes' covered the shriek that came from the human’s mouth.</span>
</p><p> </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hey y'all! Chapter 9 is done (it used to be chapter 10 but don't tell nobody) and I almost feel like Jimton, as a season (?) has ended? I'm actively working on Chapter 10 but I'm kinda feeling at a crossroads. I haven't had a lot of feedback on this story chapter to chapter, so I'm thinking of maybe not posting chapter by chapter anymore? If you've been enjoying that format, let me know on my Twitter (@amelia_m93) or by a comment, cause otherwise, I'm just gonna keep working 'til I get another part done. </p><p>Thank you for reading and (hopefully) enjoying Jimton!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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